
Glass J:Llil 
Book.^A_iJR B 



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THE CENTENNIAL COMMISSION. 
Hon. Hugh Young. Treas. Hon Horace B Packer. Hon. Jerome B. Niles. 

A fv »* D o ^°"- Charles Tubbs, President. 

Arthur M. Roy Secretary. Major George W. Merrick. 

John L. Sexton. Dr. Robert B. Smith. 



1804 1904 

TIOGA COUNTY 

CENTENNIAL 

CELEBRATION 



A RECORD OF THE PROCEEDINGS IN PREPARATION FOR THE 
OBSERVANCE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVER- 
SARY OF TIOGA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, IN 
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES 
OF THE COUNTY AND OF THE 



CELEBRATION AT WELLSBORO, 
JUNE 29, 30 AND JULY 1, 1904. 



TOGETHER WITH ANNIVERSARY ADDRESSES, MONOGRAPHS, 
AND OTHER HISTORICAL RECORDS. 



PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY OF THE CENTENNIAL 
COMMISSION, 1905. 



^x<>^ 



-^^^^ 



DEDICATED 
TO OUR posterity; that they may appreciate 

WHAT OUT forefathers DID FOR 
US AND FOR THEM. 



FROM THE PRESS OF 

THE WELLSBORO AGITATOR. WELLSBORO, PA. 

1905. 



r 



^- I^CII 



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PREFACE. 



The Tioga County Centennial Commission presents this volume to the 
public as the record of their work in preparing for the celebration of the 
one hundredth anniversary of the organization of Tioga County and as a 
report of the celebration of the event at Wellsboro, the county seat. 
This book is thought to be of historic value because it contains a number 
of monographs, written by persons to whom the Commission assigned 
the topics, which relate to the history and development of Tioga County 
during the first hundred years, and collectively they are well worth pres- 
ervation in book form. We hope that the reader will find much of inter- 
est in its perusual and valuable data for future reference, and that on 
the whole the volume will be deemed worthy a place in the library. 

Tioga County made wonderful progress during the first fifty years, 
and the second fifty years put us abreast of any county in the State of 
the same age and like natural advantages. The western half of Yhe 
county has practically been cleared of its timber and settled in the past 
twenty-five years, and because of the building of the railroads which 
traverse that part of our county that section has made its rapid develop- 
ment within the last decade. 

Those who will write the history of Tioga County for the next hun- 
dred years will have a wonderful story to tell. But, after all, it was the 
pioneers who builded the foundations, and they builded well in this coun- 
ty when they laid the corner stones of human society by establishing 
virtuous homes, good public schools, the churches, and stood for good 
government and political liberty. 



OUTLINE OF OUR EARLIEST HISTORY. 



Tioga County is almost square in form. It's north line, which is also 
the line between New York and Pennsylvania, is 34i miles long ; east 
line 28i miles long ; south line 33i miles, and its west line 31i miles in 
length. Its area is about 1,124 square miles, or 719,360 acres. 

The name Tioga is of Indian origin. During the Revolutionary period 
the name seems to have settled down to its present spelling, though it 
had had variations, such as "Diahoga," "Tayego," and "Teogo." 
There is excellent authority for the interpretation of the word from the 
Iroquois Tiagoa, signifying "a gate-way." Tioga Point, where the 
Chemung and north branch of the Susquehanna rivers unite in Bradford 
county, (now called Athens) was originally the gateway to the country 
of the Six Nations and Indian trails centered there from all sections 
of the country. As early as 1731 it is known that Tioga Point was 
guarded by the Indians as the principal gateway into this land of the 
Senecas and those who came in by any other way were considered ene- 
mies. The Chemung river was originally called Tioga in connection with 
that part of it that is still called Tioga ; so the origin and significance of 
the name of the county seems to be clearly settled, because of the river 
which flows through it to the gateway. 

The territory now comprising Tioga County was originally occupied 
by the Seneca Indians, and was one of their favorite hunting and fishing 
grounds. It was densely timbered, and elk, deer and other kinds of 
game were plentiful and the mountain streams were full of trout and 
other fish. It was an ideal hunting region, and the Indian paths crossed 
it in every direction. 

When the purchase of 1784 was made from the Indians, a vast tract 
comprising all their land west of Lycoming creek was sold for the sum 
of $10,000, and it was attached to Northumberland county. What is now 
Tioga County was included in that purchase. In a few years after this 
purchase the settlements increased to such an extent that in August, 
1795, the Northumberland county court granted a petition for the organ- 
ization of Lycoming township, which was an extensive domain; bounded 
on the north by the State of New York, east by Lycoming creek, west 
by Pine creek, and south by the Susquehanna river. And this territory 
was included in Lycoming county when it was organized April 13, 1795. 
Tioga township was organized as a district of Lycoming county in 1797. 

Settlements had been made prior to 1797 in the Cowanesque valley 
and along the Tioga river, and as these settlers increased in number 
there was a demand for a new township in Lycoming county. Accord- 



6 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

ingly a petition was presented to the Lycoming county court at the Sep- 
tember sessions of 1797, praying for a new township, it being "neces- 
sary for the administration of justice." Doubtless the Lycoming of- 
ficials also found it a great hardship to reach this region through the 
wilderness and over the mountains in those days and they were quite 
willing that a local government should be organized. The court granted 
the petition, and the new township was erected at once. The old docu- 
ment by which this was accomplished is still in existence. It appears by 
the indorsement that the name first suggested for the township was " Sub- 
mission ; " but it was afterwards changed by the court to "Tioga." 
This was the foundation for Tioga county. Tioga township then em- 
braced all the territory now comprising this county, also a small portion 
of Bradford county and a good part of Potter county. 

By an act of the Legislature, which was then sitting at Lancaster, 
five counties were created March 26, 1804. They were Clearfield, Jeffer- 
son, McKean, Potter and Tioga, the last four being wholly taken from 
Lycoming county. 

Former historians have given the honor of being the first white set- 
tler in Tioga County to Samuel Baker, who it is recorded came into the 
wilderness in 1787 and built a log cabin and commenced clearing on the 
west bank of the Tioga river, almost directly opposite the Charles Beebe 
residence in Lawrenceville on the lands known as the Damon property. 
Hon. Charles Tubbs, the author of the monograph on "The Pioneers," 
published in this volume, however, furnishes conclusive evidence to prove 
that the actual pioneer in Tioga county was James Strawbridge, of Phila- 
delphia, who located at a point on the Cowanesque river, now known as 
Academy Comers, in the year 1786. 

The few hamlets which sprang up in this territory during the few 
years after these first settlers came here were mostly abandoned in 
1793, when, because of the uncertainty of their land titles, they moved 
away. But about the beginning of the last century settlers began to 
come again. The first official records— those of 1812— show less than 
500 taxables in Tioga county, which by that time had been divided into 
two townships in Lycoming county— Tioga and Delmar. 

This brief outline of the early history of the territory comprising 
Tioga countj'^ is intended to bring it only to the beginning of the century 
we commemorate by our centennial celebration. The principal events in 
the one hundred years of our history just closed and the wonderful de- 
velopment of this county are fully recorded in the pages of this book, 
and it is an interesting story. 



PREPARATION FOR THE ANNIVERSARY. 



Long before the one hundredth anniversary of the organization of 
Tioga County suggestions came from many quarters that the event 
should be fittingly celebrated. In the summer of 1903 the subject was 
mentioned in the local newspapers and Hon. Charles Tubbs, who after- 
ward was selected as President of the Centennial Commission, published 
a card in August, 1903, calling special attention to the matter and sug- 
gesting some organization for the purpose of commemorating the anni- 
versary. At the September term of court Judge Jerome B. Niles men- 
tioned the matter to the grand jury, urging that there should be a fitting 
observance of our centennial. Briefly outlining the history of the organ- 
ization of Tioga county and its first courts, the Judge said that a county 
so rich in minerals, timber and agriculture, and so long noted for the in- 
telligence of its people, should show a proper appreciation of its devel- 
opment by some public celebration of the centennial. The grand jury on 
October 9, 1903, in its written report, indorsed the remarks of Judge 
Niles and recommended that a committee be appointed to arrange for a 
celebration, and that the County Commissioners make such an appropri- 
ation of money as might be necessary for the purpose of properly ob- 
serving the anniversary. But the Court did not appoint a committee ; 
neither did the County Commissioners appropriate any public funds for 
the celebration. The necessary money was raised by popular subscrip- 
tion. 

The same day that the grand jury filed its report a call was issued for 
a public meeting in the court-house in Wellsboro, on Friday, October 16, 
1903, to consider the contemplated centennial celebration. This call was 
as follows : 

"The county of Tioga was erected by legislative enactment March 
26, 1804. The centennial anniversary of that event is not far distant. 
In all these years the territorial extent of our county has remained in- 
tact. In all other respects there have been momentous changes. When 
the one hundredth milestone of our history is set up ought there not to 
be some suitable observance of the fact ? If so, in what manner shall it 
be done, and at what place, and under what circumstances shall the ob- 
servance take place?" This call was signed by Charles Tubbs, Osceola; 
Winfield S. Nearing, Morris Run ; Andrew B. Hitchcock, Knoxville ; 
John L. Sexton, Blossburg ; Ambrose Close, Westfield ; Frances A. Dyer, 
Covington ; Robert T. Wood, Elkland ; Judson A. EUiott, Mansfield ; 
Albert M. Loop, Nelson ; Robert T. Smith, Tioga ; Wallace P. Ryon, 
Lawrenceville ; Gerould Dennison, Charleston ; George W. Potter, Mid- 



8 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

dlebury ; John Haggerty, Morris ; Octavius A. Smith, Gaines ; Eugene 
English, Delmar, Jerome B. Niles, Hugh Young, Sarah M. Billings, 
Newell L. Reynolds and George W. Merrick, Wellsboro. 

The public meeting in the court-house in Wellsboro on the afternoon 
of October 16th was well attended, prominent residents from all parts of 
the county being present. Major George W. Merrick called the meeting 
to order, and Hon. Charles Tubbs was elected to preside. He stated 
that he thought that there was a general feeling as to the fitness of the 
proposed celebration ; he spoke briefly of the development of the county 
and expressed his pleasure at the representative character of the assem- 
blage. The following officers of a preliminary organization to further 
the project of the celebration were elected : President, Hon. Charles 
Tubbs, of Osceola ; Vice-Presidents, Judge Jerome B. Niles, Hon. Horace 
B. Packer, of Wellsboro ; Dr. A. M. Loop, of Nelson ; Dr. R. B. Smith, 
of Tioga ; John L. Sexton, of Blossburg ; Secretary, Arthur M. Roy, of 
Wellsboro ; Treasurer, Hon. Hugh Young, of Wellsboro. 

Short speeches in hearty approval of the project were made by Judge 
Jerome B. Niles, Rev. N. L. Reynolds, Hon. A. B. Hitchcock, of Knox- 
ville ; Hon. David Cameron, R. B. Smith, of Tioga ; Major George W. 
Merrick, Prothonotary F. M. Sheffer ; Mr. Judson A. EUiott, of Mans- 
fielp ; Hon. Hugh Young, Dr. A. M. Loop, of Nelson, aged 88, a promin- 
ent resident of the county since 1838 ; Mr. O. A. Smith, of Marshlands ; 
Mr. J. H. Metcalf, of Westfield township; D. L. Deane, Esq., Mr. 
Eugene English, of Shippen, Mr. G. D. Dennison, of Charleston, Hon, 
H. B. Packer, Mr. George W. Dickinson, of Middlebury, Rev. A. C. 
Shaw, D. D., and Rev. William Heakes. 

Many interesting facts of local and family history were elicited in 
these speeches. Most of the speakers had been born in the county, and 
in some cases their fathers and grandfathers as well. Aged Dr. Loop's 
speech was received with special applause. The time, place and char- 
acter of the proposed celebration were fruitful themes of discussion. 
There seemed to be general approval of Wellsboro as the place for hold- 
ing the celebration and a day, or days, during the summer of 1904 as the 
time, March 26th, the actual anniversary of the legislative enactment 
creating the county, being inpracticable for such a festal purpose on ac- 
count of the usually inclement weather. 

By resolution the temporary organization was made permanent and 
the officers were given power to fix the time and place for the celebra- 
tion, to appoint all sub-committees and to arrange the programme for 
the event. 

On Monday afternoon, October 19, 1903, a meeting of officers was 
held in the Bar Association rooms in the court-house. There were pres- 
ent President Charles Tubbs, Secretary Arthur M. Roy, Treasurer Hugh 
Young, and Messrs. George W. Merrick, J. W. Mather, Francis M. 
Sheffer and George W. Williams. After consultation the following Cen- 
tennial Executive Committee was appointed to cover the whole county : 



PREPARATION FOR THE CELEBRATION. 9 

Bloss, James Auld ; Blossburg, John L. Sexton ; Brookfield, Herman B. 
Murdock ; Charleston, Dr. Charles W. Hazlett ; Chatham, Joseph Wilson; 
Clymer, W. A. Ritter ; Covington township, Holland demons ; Coving- 
ton borough, S. O. Putnam ; Deerfield, Charles M. Woodbury ; Delmar, 
J. H. Buckley ; Duncan, James Pollock ; Elk, Reuben G. Maynard ; Elk- 
land, R. T. Wood ; Farmington, 0. A. VanDusen ; Gaines, 0. A. Smith; 
Hamilton, W. S. Nearing ; Jackson, J. L. Sedinger ; Knoxville, A. B. 
Hitchcock ; Lawrence, H. B. Colegrove ; Lawrenceville, Dr. Lewis Dar- 
ling ; Liberty township, John Foulkrod ; Liberty borough, Michael Shef- 
fer ; Mansfield, J. A. Elliott ; Middlebury, George W. Dickinson ; Mor- 
ris, Enoch Blackwell ; Nelson township, Oliver Babcock ; Nelson borough, 
Dr. A. M. Loop ; Osceola, Charles Tubbs ; Richmond, Volney Ripley ; 
Roseville, H. L. Blood ; Rutland, George W. Palmer ; Shippen, Eugene 
EngUsh ; Sullivan, Warren D. Rose ; Tioga township, Frank Allen ; Tio- 
ga borough. Dr. R. B. Smith ; Union, Charles S. Green ; Ward, Wallace 
Chase ; Wellsboro, First ward, George W. Merrick ; Wellsboro, Second 
ward, George W. Williams ; Westfield township, James H. Metcalf ; 
Westfield borough, Ambi-ose Close. 

The Centennial Executive Committee met at the court-house October 
31st, the following members being present : Dr. C. W. Hazlett, W. A. 
Ritter, Charles M. Woodbury, J. H. Buckley, O. A. Smith, Dr. Lewis 
Darling, George W. Dickinson, Oliver P. Babcock, Charles Tubbs, Wal- 
lace Chase, George W. Merrick and Arthur M. Roy. President Tubbs 
expressed his gratification over the general interest already manifest in 
the centennial celebration. The editors of all the local newspapers in 
the county were appointed Assistant Secretaries and members of the 
committee, as follows: John L. Sexton, Advertiser, Blossburg; Charles 
C. Redfield, Sun, Covington ; Frank B. Orser, Journal, Elkland ; Charles 

E. Brugler, Courier, Knoxville ; W. P. Ryon, Herald, Lawrenceville ; 

F. E. VanKeuren, Advertiser, Mansfield ; Harry T. Graves, Advocate, 
Millerton ; Fred L. Graves, Argus, Tioga ; Frank Conevery, Gazette, 
Wellsboro; William L. Shearer, Advocate, Wellsboro; W. W. Marsh, 
Free Press, Westfield. The Assistant Secretaries were instructed to 
assist in every possible way the Secretary of the Commission, Arthur 
M. Roy, of the Agitator, Wellsboro. 

The place for holding the celebration was discussed. On motion of 
Mr. George W. Dickinson seconded by Mr. O. A. Smith, Wellsboro was 
named. Short addresses were made by Messrs. W. A. Ritter, O. P. 
Babcock, J. H. Metcalf, Dr. C. W. Hazlett and Wallace Chase, all favor- 
ing Wellsboro, and no other place was named. The motion was carried 
unanimously. 

By common consent the month of June was deemed the best time for 
holding the celebration on account of the weather. There was an ani- 
mated discussion over which week in June it should be fixed. So that it 
might not interfere with the courts, the Mansfield commencement week 



10 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

or the closing exercises of local schools, it was finally decided to hold the 
celebration on June 29th and 30th and July 1st, 1904. 

On the actual anniversary— March 26th,— it was thought that the 
public schools in the county should observe the event with appropriate 
services, and that the churches should also commemorate the event on 
Sunday, March 27th. 

Major Merrick spoke at some length on the observance of the cen- 
tennial, suggesting topics to be considered in the literary productions 
and public addresses, such as our agricultural development, educational 
growth, mines and mining, the churches, the professions, the pioneers, 
etc. He moved that the ofl^icers of the Commission constitute a commit- 
tee to appoint a board of finance for the celebration, to determine what 
topics shall be treated and to assign persons to make research and treat 
those topics, either in papers or public addresses ; also, to make plans 
for the general observance throughout the county of the actual anniver- 
sary on March 26th ; and this work to be reported to the Commission 
for final approval. The motion was seconded by Mr. Dickinson and it 
was carried unanimously. 

At a meeting of the Commission on November 19th topics were se- 
lected for monographs and assigned 'as follows: The Pioneers— Charles 
Tubbs ; Mines and Mining— John L. Sexton; The Bench— Howard F. 
Marsh ; The Bar— Judge David Cameron ; The Press— Arthur M. Roy ; 
Early Physicians— Dr. Lewis Darling; Military Affairs— Major George 
W. Merrick ; Lumbering— Leonard Harrison ; Agriculture— John H. Buck- 
ley ; The Indians— George V. Smith ; Education— Prof. Andrew Thomas 
Smith ; Growth of the Religious Interests of Tioga County— Rev. Newel 
L, Reynolds. 

The following special committees were also appointed at this meeting: 
Finance— Leonard Harrison, S. F. Channell, F. J. Seely, 0. Pattison, 
Francis M. Sheffer, Alfred J. Shattuck, John Haggerty, Walter Sher- 
wood, W. W. Miller, F. B. Smith. 

Music— Frank A. Deans, H. C. Young, H. E. Cogswell, Mrs. Lloyd 
Smith, Miss Zenette Clarke, Mrs. F. A. Johnson, B. H. Parkhurst. 

Industrial Parade— George W. Williams, S. F. Channell, M. B. Steb- 
bins, George W. Dickinson, Charles E. Burgess, E. M. Atwell and W. 
W. Marsh. 

The President reported that County Superintendent of Schools, W. R. 
Longstreet had agreed to assist in preparing a program and arranging 
for the general observance of the centennial in the public schools of the 
county, and he suggested that the most convenient time would be Friday 
afternoon or evening March 25th. This date was approved by the Com- 
mission and the Secretary was instructed to invite the pastors of all 
churches in the county to observe the anniversary on Sunday, March 27th. 
with appropriate sermons and exercises. 

The advisability of holding an antiquarian exhibit was discussed ; but 
it was determined that the matter depended wholly on securing a man 



PREPARATION FOR THE CELEBRATION. 11 

qualified to be its superintendent and also of commodious quarters for 
such an exhibit, so it was left open for future action. 

The Secretary was instructed to secure from the Council of Wells- 
boro the concession to the Centennial Commission during the three days 
of this celebration the entire control of the streets of the borough, the 
granting of all privileges and licenses and the benefit of the proceeds 
thereof. The Wellsboro Council made these concessions and its action 
was reported by the Secretary at the next meeting of the Commission. 

The Commission met in the court-house January 29th and there were 
present Charles Tubbs, of Osceola, W. S. Nearing, of Morris Run, Vol- 
ney Ripley, of Mansfield, Dr. R. B. Smith, of Tioga, O. A. Smith, of 
Marshlands. Hon. A. B. Hitchcock, of Knoxville, Ambrose Close, of 
Westfield, J. H. Metcalf, of Westfield, Dr. C. W. Hazlett, of Charles- 
ton, Enoch Blackwell, of Morris, O. A. VanDusen, of Farmington, Hon. 
Horace B. Packer, D. L. Deane, A. J. Shattuck, Leonard Harrison, 
George W. Merrick, Francis M. Sheffer, George W. Williams, J. W. 
Mather, Arthur M. Roy and Frank Con every, of Wellsboro. 

President Tubbs reported that after a conference with County Super- 
intendent of Schools Longstreet, a programme had been prepared for 
use in the public schools for their anniversary exercises on Friday after- 
noon, March 25th, and he presented it to the Commission and it was 
unanimously approved : This program will be found in the report of the 
celebration in the public schools. 

There was a general discussion of the importance of an antiquarian 
exhibit in connection with the centennial celebration. Messrs. W. S. 
Nearing, George W. Merrick, Horace B. Packer, A. B. Hitchcock, 
C. W. Hazlett, R. B. Smith and Charles Tubbs agreeing that it would 
bring together an interesting collection of historical relics and that it 
should be made a feature of the celebration if the right sort of a man 
could be secured to manage it. The matter was left in the hands of the 
General Committee which is composed of the officers of the Commission, 
and the same committee was given full charge of preparing the pro- 
gram for the three days of the centennial celebration. 

Samples of medals and badges were exhibited to the Commission. On 
motion of Hon. Horace B. Packer the Secretary was instructed to order 
from the Whitehead & Hoag Company, of Newark, N. J., one thousand 
metal badges, or memorial medals, the price being fifteen cents each ; 
and that they be sold at 25 cents each, the Commission to derive what- 
ever profit there may be. The medal is well represented on another 
page in this book. 

Hon. Horace B. Packer was instructed to confer with the Vestry of 
St. Paul's Church relative to renting the old wooden church building, 
now their parish-house, for the antiquarian exhibit. The Commission 
deemed this old building, erected in 1838, the most appropriate location 
for such exhibit, being an historic landmark itself and the oldest church 
edifice now standing in Tioga county. 



12 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

Chairman Leonard Harrison, of the Finance Committee, asked for 
instructions as to the probable sum which it would be necessary to raise 
for the celebration. After some discussion and an estimate of the gen- 
eral expenses the Commission decided that $2,500 should be raised as the 
sum required. 

At a meeting of the officers of the Commission March 18th, the name of 
Mr. Anton Hardt was suggested as a competent man to take charge of 
the Antiquarian Exhibit. The Secretary was instructed to confer with 
Mr. Hardt on the subject and induce him to accept this responsible 
position. 

Sheriff Edward B. Dorsett was appointed to write the monograph on 
"Agriculture," Mr. John H. Buckley having declined on account of 
sickness. 

The resignation of Hon. Hugh Young as Treasurer was accepted and 
Mr. L. L. Bailey was elected to fill the vacancy. 

At the meeting of May 20th, there were present President Charles 
Tubbs, Major George W. Merrick, A. J. Shattuck, Walter Sherwood, 
Horace B. Packer, Anton Hardt, S. F. Channell, L. Harrison, H. F. 
Marsh, Frank Conevery, J. W. Mather, M. B. Stebbins and Arthur 
M. Roy. 

The Secretary was instructed to write Chief Justice John B. Cassoday, 
of Madison, Wisconsin, Ex-Governor "William A. Stone, of Pittsburg, 
and Hon. H. H. Rockwell, of Elmira, formerly of Lawrenceville, Tioga 
county. Pa., to make addresses during the celebration. 

Mr. Anton Hardt consented to act as General Superintendent of the 
Antiquarian Exhibit, the old church building having been secured for 
the purpose* He made some valuable suggestions relative to the pro- 
posed exhibit. Messrs. J. W. Mather and M. B. Stebbins were 
appointed a committee to act with Mr. Hardt in appointing an auxiliary 
committee covering the county to assist in the collection of relics for 
exhibition. They immediately reported the following sub-committee : 

Bloss — Mrs. Frank H. Dartt, J. W. Jackson; Blossburg— Frank H. 
Hughes, Stephen H. Hollands ; Brookfield — Frank A. Ackley, W. L. 
Plank; Charleston— B. F.Edwards, Dr. C. W. Hazlett ; Chatham-Delos 

E. Cooper, George Curtis ; Clymer — G. H. Stebbins, Miss Eva M. Cham- 
berlain ; Covington — John F. Cleveland, Mrs. George W. Johnson ; Cov- 
ington borough — S. H. Ridge, F. H. Patchen ; Deerfield — Lyman J. Pur- 
ple, Charles R. Howland ; Delmar— Charles Orr, Rock L. Butler ; Dun- 
can—James Pollock, John F. Dwyer ; Elk — W. T. Shanbacher, John 

F. Naegly ; Elkland— L. W. Fenton, J. H. Buckbee ; Farmington— E. W. 
Close, Lee Kemp ; Gaines— E. E. Dutcher, James H. Ruggles ; flamil- 
ton — Mrs. Mary O'Donnell, W. S. Nearing ; Jackson— W. H. Garrison, 
W. E. Sedinger; Knoxville-Charles H. Fish, T. C. Campbell; Law- 
rence — M. S. Strait, William Harrison ; Lawrenceville — E. B. Beau- 
mont, Jr., Mrs. J. F. Rusling ; Liberty— Robert G. Heyler, W. H. Man- 
val; Liberty borough— Mrs. B. F. Werline, William H. Merithew ; 
Mansfield— Mrs. Ellen Williams, Mrs. Ellen B. Williams, Mrs. H. F. 
Kingsley ; Middlebury— W. J. Greenfield, H. L. Hayes ; Morris— R. J. 
Blackwell, F. E. Doane ; Nelson— 0. P. Babcock, Levi B. Brown ; Nel- 



PREPARATION FOR THE CELEBRATION. 13 

son borough-E. C. B. Blackwell, Miss Nora Baxter ; Osceola- Augustus 
Smith, Ed. R. Tubbs; Richmond- John L. Hagar Mrs. Charles H. 
Knapp; Roseville-J. W. Avery, John T. Stout; Rutland -W.H. Hat- 
field E. E. Wood : Shippen— Henry Schanbacker, John M. Campbell , 
Sulli'van-W. H. Smith, G. L. Lay; Tioga-Horace Stevens Thomas G. 
Hatfield; Tioga borough-Mrs. V. E. Saxton, Mrs. J H. Putnana; 
Union-Victor Landon, Daniel Preston ; Ward— Robert Russell, 1. i'. 
Furman Vwellsboro-Mrs. M. L. Bacon Mrs WW Miller, Miss Mary 
B. Robinson, Mrs. F. E. Watrous ; Westfield-K. B Hill, J. H. Met- 
calf ; Westfield borough— John R. Dengle, Mrs. Sarah I. Krusen. 

There was some discussion as to the admission fee to be charged for 
the Antiquarian Exhibit to make it self sustaining. The price was fixed 
at ten cents. . 

The power of granting privileges was given to the Finance Com- 
mittee and the Secretary. 

It was decided to engage Wellsborough's Military Band for three 

days. 

President Charles Tubbs, and Major Merrick and Hon. H. B, Packer 
were appointed as a Committee on Invitations. 

Prothonotary F. M. Sheffer, Frank Conevery, and M. B. Stebbins 
were appointed a Committee on Transportation, to arrange for special 

After considerable discussion as to the kind of entertainments to be 
provided the following committee was appointed to suggest a program 
and report at the next meeting of the Commission : J. H. Gardner, 
H F Marsh, W. B. Sullivan, E. E. Hyer, George W. WiUiams, Frank 
Conevery, M. B. Stebbins, Dr. J. P. Longwell, F. H. Rockwell, Fair Free- 
born of Knoxville, B. F. Jones of Blossburg, Dr. W. G. Humphrey of 
Elkland, M. B. Seeley of Nelson, Dr. S. P. Hakes of Tioga, T. W. 
Judge of Mansfield, Charles Redfield, of Covington, D. W. Baldwin of 
Westfield, William F. O'Donnell of Morris Run. 

May 27th the following gentlemen attended the meeting in the Bar 
Association rooms in the court-house : President Charles Tubbs, George 
W. Merrick, Leonard Harrison, Francis M. Sheffer, J. W. Mather, Horace 
B. Packer, M. B. Stebbins, J. H. Gardner, Frank Conevery, Howard F. 
Marsh, S. F. Channell and A. M. Roy. 

The Committee on Entertainments reported some progress. It was 
announced that they proposed to provide some good baseball games every 
day of the celebration and that they were arranging for other features 
to entertain the visitors, but the committee was not able to state that it 
had concluded all its arrangements so as to be able to make public 
announcement of the program. There was considerable discussion rela- 
tive to the propriety of securing a carnival company which was adver- 
tised at Williamsport, for the general entertainment of the crowds 
expected at the celebration. It was stated that the company furnished 
several high-class free street attractions besides its numerous shows at 
nominal prices of admission. The committee was instructed to investi- 



14 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

gate the merits of this carnival company and secure its terms before 
closing a contract. The committee was authorized to use its own dis- 
cretion as to the advisability of securing this class of entertainment and 
this particular company. 

It was reported that sufficient funds had been pledged to insure the 
financial success of the celebration. 

The following committees were appointed after some discussion as to 
their duties : 

Disbursing Committee — President Charles Tubbs, Vice-President 
Horace Packer, Arthur M. Roy and George W. Williams. 

Committee on "Old Home" meeting, to be held in the Auditorium 
on Thursday evening, June 30th, the program to be in harmony with the 
one hundredth anniversary of the county — Maj. George W. Merrick, 
Hon. David Cameron, Charles E. Brugler, of Knoxville, Henry C. Cox 
and Harry Bailey, of Mansfield. 

Committee on Fireworks— S. F. Channell, Archie W. Campbell and 
Frederick W. Graves. 

Committee on Program — George W. WiUiams, Howard F. Marsh and 
Maj. George W. Merrick. 

Committee on Publicity — J. W. Mather, George W. Williams, and 
Arthur M. Roy. 

Hon. H. B. Packer, of the Committee on Invitations, reported that a 
list was being prepared of all those whom it was desired to give personal 
invitations to attend the Centennial. 

The Committee on Invitations sent to all natives of Tioga or former 
residents of the county residing outside its borders the following invi- 
tation to participate in the celebration. About 800 invitations were thus 
issued : 

180A 190U 

The honor of your presence is cordially requested 

at the celebration of 

The Tioga County Centennial 

at Wellsboro, Pa., 

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 

June 29th, 30th, and July 1st, 

1904. 

Come to the ' ' Old Home ' ' Week. 

Charles Tubbs, 
Horace B. Packer, 
George W. Merrick, 
Committee. 

Mr. Frank Conevery reported his correspondence with railroad com- 
panies relative to excursion rates and special trains, which was favor- 
able to such arrangement. The details were still to be completed, how- 
ever. 



PREPARATION FOR THE CELEBRATION. 15 

Mr. George W. Williams was appointed to take general charge of 
the arrangements for the centennial celebration. As Director-General 
Mr. Williams at once opened headquarters in the room in the rear of the 
Postoffice, on Grafton street, where he was able to keep in touch with 
all the committees prior to and during the celebration. 

It was announced that ex-Governor William A. Stone, Chief Justice 
Cassoday and H. L. Rockwell, Esq., had accepted invitations to speak 
during the celebration, each one being a native of Tioga county. 

PREPARATIONS FOR A MILITARY PARADE. 

The soldiers of Tioga county held a meeting at the court-house on 
Saturday afternoon, June 11th, to make arrangements for the observ- 
ance of Military-day of the Tioga County Centennial, on June 30th, and 
all soldiers now residing in Tioga county, as well as those who enlisted 
from this county and living elsewhere, were invited to participate in the 
parade. 

A large number of committees were appointed and of this number 
one of the most important was the one appointed from the companies 
raised in Tioga county during the Civil and Spanish wars. These com- 
rades were expected to notify each member of their company to attend 
the Centennial on June 30th. The following is the list of committees : 

1st Pa. Rifles, " Bucktails, "— Co. E., W. W. English, George 0. 
Derby ; Co. G, H. C. Bailey ; Co. A, Ed. Hunt, Mortimer Wakely. 

6th Pa., Reserves — Co. H, D. D. Holiday, Job Wetmore. 

45th Pa. Infy-Co. P, Wheeler 0. Merrick ; G, Thomas J. Davies, 
John J. Rogers ; I, S. Houghton, J. 0. English ; H, J. D. Green. 
: 149th Pa. Infy, " Bucktails,"— Co. A, G. H. Lawton, R. E. Pond; 
Co. G, James Seeley, William Fletcher. 

187th Pa. Infy-Co. A, G. W. Merrick, L. P. Potter ; I, R. B. Webb. 

136th Pa. Infy-Co. A, V. W. Lewis, H. Beckwith ; D, J. H. Met- 
calf, Isaac Hunt. 

35th Pa. Vol. Emergency troops — Co. E, Morgan L. Bacon, A. B. 
Dewitt ; F, W. S. Boatman, Robert H. Steele ; G, Giles Roberts ; K, 
R. C. Bailey, H. R. Fish. 

57th Pa. Infy— Co. D, Philemon Catlin, H. F. Westbrook. 

101st Pa. Infy— Co. B, Joseph S. Hoard, Melvin S. Clark. 

106 Pa. Infy-Co. D, David Irvin, Charles Whitlock. 

207th Pa. Infy— Co. A, D. L. Deane, Norman D. Kremmer ; B. 
George M. Bastian, Thomas Horning ; D, Henry C. Ackley, William R. 
Burdick ; E, Henry C. Cox, W. S. Mackey ; G. Henry S. Keeney, Hiram 
D. Freeborn ; H, R. T. Wood ; K, John J. Reese, L. S. Collins. 

2nd Pa. Cav.— Co. L, R. T. Wood, L. Fenton. 

7th Pa. Cav.-O. G. Gerould, N. J. Wheeler. 

11th Pa. Cav.— Andrew J. Klock, B. F. Westbrook. 

16th Pa. Cav.— A. C. Wheeler. 



16 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

5th U. S. Art.— S. L. Warren, Albert Osborn. 
Navy— H. D. Goodrich, L. W. Webb. 

The following residents of Tioga county were members of regiments 
raised outside of this county : 

50th N. Y. Eng. —James A. Boyce. 

33rd Mo. Infy— R. A. Wheeler. 

14th U. S. Infy-H. J. Ripley, A. S. Reynolds. 

Also the following committee from the Spanish war survivors : 

5th Infy— Co. K, Edson Catlin, H. C. Young. 

PRESIDENT TUBES 'S ADDRESS. 

President Charles Tubbs, of the Centennial Commission, on June 15th, 
issued the following address to the public which was published in all the 
local newspapers : 

Osceola, June 15. — It is proposed to celebrate at Wellsboro on the 
29th, and 30th of June and July 1st, the centennial anniversary of the 
legislative incorporation of Tioga county. 

An exhibition is to be given on the days indicated so varied in its 
phases that it will meet at some point the tastes of the most exacting. 
It will furnish innocent and diverting amusements ; it will give scope to 
athletic sports ; it will spread out for inspection an industrial parade ; it 
will gather together into an antiquarian hall the floatsam and jetsam of 
an hundred years, "and both by day and by night it will project into the 
heavens a pyrotechnic display hitherto unequalled in our history. 

Object lessons, these, of the successive stages by which we have 
arrived at our present state. Step by step our grandparents, our par- 
ents and ourselves have traveled along the highway of time. The foot- 
prints left by the generations have been observed — they will be illus- 
trated. This exhibition will be diverting ; it will be instructive ; it will 
be educational in its character. 

But these things of time and sense gathered together in never so 
great profusion will not sufficiently punctuate the passing of the cen- 
tury. If we would make it a fact, standing out prominently in our van- 
ishing days, we must give it life by adding our bodily presence to the 
throngs of the vast assembly. 

Come and see the exhibits ; come and see each other ; help to make 
the celebration a crowning success, for not again in your day and mine 
will a similar event occur. For this one time add the energy, activity 
and vitality of your individual self to the aggregate of the pulsating 
mass of humanity that will assemble at your county capital as the cen- 
tury of its corporate Hfe draws to a close. Charles Tubes, 

President of Centennial Commission. 

centennial reception committee. 

The following business and professional men composed the Centennial 



PREPARATION FOR THE CELEBRATION. 17 

Reception Committee, to welcome visitors and make it pleasant for them 
while in Wellsboro : 

A. B. Dunsmore, Chairman, C. L. Babcock, M. H. Stebbins, L. L, 
Bailey, John J. Rogers, W. D. VanHom, M. L. Bacon, N. W, Mastin, 

F. E. Watrous, C. W. Webb, N. H. Ryan, A. Niles, E. H. Owlett, 
Farnham Shaw, D. L. Deane, George M. Spalding, H. E. Raesly, H. L. 
Blatchley, J. A. Boyce, A. R. Niles, W. E. Champaign, Evan P. Rees, 
M. L. Klock, L. P. Smart, E. A. Bryden, C. W. Bodine, N. R. White, 

G. H. Derby, F. F. Howd, C. B. Clark, C. H. Roberts, Richard Smith, 
A. P. Dartt, M. A. Blair, G. R. Mathers, W. A. Hammond, G. P. Rib- 
erolle, Peter Fischler, R. L. VanHorn, F. R. Fischler, Carl Bernkopf, 
L. A. Gardner, L. B. Finkelstein, R. C. Kelts, F. W. Seimens, Levi 
Robb, F. R. Field, Ed. Evans, C. L. Miller, Israel Cohen, D. C. Smith. 
S. 0. Putnam. 



GENERAL ARRANGEMENT OF THE PROGRAM. 

The various committees announced the following general arrange- 
ment of the program for the popular celebration on June 29th and 30th 
and July 1st : 

Twenty-one guns at sunrise every morning. 

Wednesday afternoon, a public meeting on the public square, with an 
address by President Charles Tubbs, literary exercises, music and his- 
torical address by Hon. H. H. Rockwell, of Elmira, N. Y. 

The thrilling bicycle descent and loop-the-loop act on Main street by 
" Diavolo, " who was connected with the Jabour Carnival Company. 

A $1,000 display of Pain's fireworks on Wednesday and Friday even- 
ing, with the novel Japanese day fireworks and 36 paper balloons, a 
dozen every afternoon. 

Base-ball games every day between county clubs on the Athletic 
grounds. 

Band concerts every afternoon and evening by Wellsborough's Mili- 
tary Band of thirty musicians. 

Thursday, a grand military and civic parade and an industrial proces- 
sion representing the development of Tioga county. 

In the afternoon an address by Ex-Governor William A. Stone to the 
veteran soldiers on the military achievements of the sons of Tioga 
county. 

The Antiquarian Exhibit, in the historic old St. Paul's church, com- 
prising a large and interesting collection of Indian relics. Revolutionary 
war souvenirs, ancient utensils, works of art, and curiosities generally, 
forming an interesting attraction at the nominal admission-fee of ten 
cents. 

Thursday evening was devoted to the "Old Home" meeting in the 
Bache Auditorium, where many of the distinguished sons and daughters 
of Tioga county who return to the centennial were to be heard in five- 
minute addresses, the meeting being designed as a reunion festival. 

Parade of Tioga county firemen on Friday morning. In the afternoon 



18 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

the public meeting addressed by Chief Justice John B. Cassoday, of 
Wisconsin. 

The Jabour Carnival Company, with ten tent shows, to furnish 
plenty of innocent amusement for the crowds who attended the centennial 
during the hours when the centennial exercises did not engross their 
attention. 

Excursion rates on all the railroads and special trains from the Cow- 
anesque valley. 



THE ANNIVERSARY IN THE SCHOOLS. 



As our actual anniversary fell on Saturday, March 26th, it was sug- 
gested by the Centennial Commission that the public schools of the 
county observe Friday, March 25th. 

Accordingly Chairman Tubbs, of the Centennial Commission, and 
County Superintendent W. R. Longstreet arranged a model program 
for the schools, at the same time suggesting that principals and teachers 
make such variation in the program as might be deemed necessary to 
suit the size and grade of their schools. The introductory address was 
written by Hon. Charles Tubbs, President of the Commission. 

The following is the program suggested for the school exercises : 

1. Singing America 

2. Recitation— Twenty- Third Psalm and Lord's Prayer in concert 

3. Introductory Address To be read by the Teacher 

4. Singing The Red, White and Blue 

5. Salutation to the Flag To be given at the close of song, standing 

6. Declamations— 

i'l) Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. 
i^') The Ship of State 

7. Reading Historical Sketch of Tioga County Prepared by Major G. W. Merrick 

8. Singing Battle Hymn of the Republia 

9. Declamations- 

Co) The Landing of the Pilgrims. 

(/>) Our Education Should Be American. 

10. Paper on the Local History of the School District. 

11. Reminiscences of History of Locality— By members of School Board or some one selected 

by it for that purpose. 

12. Singing The Star Spangled Banner 

13. Recitation in concert by pupils of preamble of the Constitution of the United States. 

14. Singing Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow 

Note— Suggestion : Each school to make a display of maps of Tioga county and of its 

own township or borough, drawn by the pupils. 

The County Superintendent issued a letter and sent a copy to every 
teacher in the county urging the appropriate observance of the anniver- 
versary on the day designated. The following is his letter : 

Mansfield, Pa., February 15, 1904. 
To the Teachers of Tioga County : The County Centennial Commission 
requests that the one hundredth anniversary of Tioga County be cele- 
brated by all public schools in the county, on Friday, March 25th, 1904. 
A program of exercises has been prepared and will be furnished each 
school. In townships where schools are small I would advise that sev- 
eral schools combine and hold their exercises in the most centrally lo- 
cated place. In small townships, all the schools could combine, and in 
large townships two or more divisions could be made. 



20 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

Directors are urged to take an active interest in the observance of 
the day and co-operate with the teachers in every w^ay possible. 

I shall immediately designate some one in each township to call a 
meeting of the teachers and directors to decide upon plans for the gen- 
eral observance of the day. Each school should take part. Should the 
location of any schools be unfavorable to uniting with other schools, they 
would be expected to hold their own celebration. Principals of Graded 
Schools will, of course, act as chairmen of their districts. In every case 
the public should be invited to attend the exercises. 

The County Superintendent expresses the hope that every teacher 
will be interested in appropriately celebrating the day, and will improve 
his or her opportunity to impress upon the minds and hearts of our boys 
and girls the most estimable virtue— PATRIOTISM. Let it be said that 
no teacher failed to do his or her duty in honoring our beloved country. 

Very sincerely, 

W. R. LONGSTREET, 

County Supt. Schools. 

This appeal met with most cordial and general response from the 
teachers. Thirty-nine districts observed the anniversary with school 
exercises, generally following the program suggested. Only two dis- 
tricts failed to observe the day, their schools having closed for the 
year before the day designated. 

A few districts united with the citizens and held entertaining exer- 
cises in churches in the evening, namely : Elkland, Chatham and Lib- 
erty. 

The High School of Wellsboro held their exercises in the Auditorium 
on the afternoon of said day and presented an elaborate program. 
The capacity of the Auditorinm was taxed by a delighted audience. 

The following is the introductory address read by the teachers, which 
was prepared by Charles Tubbs, President of the Commission : 

We are met to celebrate an event. The county in which we live, this 
day enters upon its hundredth year. We have placed maps of its out- 
ward form and semblance upon the walls of our school rooms. For its 
territory the Legislature set off 1,124 square miles. These remain to us 
as they were in the beginning. In this respect it has gone through no 
evolution. It is the only firm, stable, and unaltered thing about it. 

In all other respects it has gone through stupendous changes. At 
first it contained but one township, and the county did not cover all of 
that. Now it is cut up into 27 tovmships and 13 boroughs. About 500 
people lived here a century ago. Now our population has grown to 50,- 
000 inhabitants. 

Dense forests originally covered our territory. Perhaps 1,000 acres 
were cleared when the county was erected. Vast areas have since been 
subdued and reduced to cultivation. Venomous reptiles and wild beasts 
abounded. They have been destroyed or driven out. The bowels of the 
earth have been entered and searched. Immense deposits of bituminous 
coal and lesser ones of mineral oil have been discovered and brought to 
the upper air. 

These are some of the things that have been done to subdue the 



ANNIVERSARY IN THE SCHOOLS. 21 

material world. Our people have be enmasterful in their conflict with 
the powers of nature. 

In manufactures, in the mechanic arts, the mysteries of handicraft 
and inventive genius their achievements take high rank. They contribut- 
ed their full share of men and money to maintain the commercial rights 
of the nation on the high seas, in the second war with Great Britian. 

At a later date and on a more magnificent scale they repeated that 
record in the enthusiastic support they gave the national authorities in 
the war waged for the integrity of the Union. When the people were 
few the schools were few ; they have grown with the growth of popu- 
lation and in excellence they have kept pace with the advance of the 
times. In morality and religious interests there have been ebb and flood 
tides and at what stage the bosom of this great deep is at the end of the 
century it is hard to discern. 

Tioga county in the past one hundred years has made a reputable 
contribution to literature in the work upon the newspaper press, and its 
printed volumes of poetry and prose. 

The past is secure. Its record is made up. In it there is much for 
encouragement. The worthy works performed in the past are an incen- 
tive to high endeavor and lofty achievement in the years that are to 
come. We have entered upon the twentieth century. Before us lies its 
broad expanse. Standing at the dividing line which separates the old 
from the new our greeting is, Hail and Farewell. 

The following is the " Ten-Minute Historical Sketch of Tioga County," 
written by George W. Merrick. 

" Brown foundlin' o' the woods, whose baby bed 

Was prowled roun' by Injun's cracklin' tread. 

And who grew'st strong thru' shifts, an' wants, an' pains. 

Nursed by strong men, with empires in their brains. 

—Lowell, 

This spot of earth had a habitation before it had a name. It arrived 
long before it was christened Tioga. While the Caesars ruled the world 
with military force and Christ was preaching the sermon on the Mount 
it awaited the coming of the strenuous man. He came when the white 
man pushed the red man out. It was the dusky hunting ground of the 
masterful Iroquois. Before them were the Lenni-Lenape, the "original 
people " they said, and before them were only legend and tradition. 

The first two pioneer settlers were Revolutionary soldiers ; and others 
may have fought with Montgomery, and on the Plains of Abraham when 
Wolfe fell. *Samuel Baker came first. As a boy of twelve, he was cap- 
tured by the Indians of Burgoyne's expedition, but ransomed by an oflS- 
cer and released by the capture of Burgoyne's army at Saratoga. 
Early in 1787 he landed at Lawrenceville, by canoe from Tioga Point 
(Athens.) Later the same year, he was joined by Captain Amos Stone, 

*See monograph on The Pioneer. [Ed.] 



22 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

a refugee from Shay's rebellion in Massachusetts. They joined their 
forces and fortunes. Baker returned for his family, and Stone held the 
fort — a bark shanty. When Baker returned the next spring he discov- 
ered a supposed solitary Indian in possession of the camp, but on closer 
inspection it proved to be none other than Stone himself, who probably 
thought it safer to be a red man than a white man that first winter. 

That year, or the next, Daniel and Henry Lamb settled at Canoe 
Camp and Benjamin Corey built a bark cabin at Mansfield. Early in 
1791 Jesse Losey occupied Tioga Island. In 1792, Peter's Camp (Bloss- 
burg) and Block-house (Liberty) were occupied and Reuben Cook staked 
out his claim on the Cowanesque, " the river of the long island." Later 
the same year the Williamson road v/as cut through from Loyaloock creek, 
Lycoming county, over the mountain and dovvTi the Tioga, Cov/anesque 
and Chemung rivers, to Painted Post and the Pultney estate. New Yorl:. 
What a happy thought it was to preserve so many of the beautiful, soft 
and significant Indian names ! 

From this time on a trickling stream of immigration set in, and by 
March 26, 1804, when the county was erected had reached the sum total 
of thirty families. These settlers come to seek homes in this wilderness 
from Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and Pennsylvania, Mary- 
land and Delaware, thus commingling southern blood with a strain from 
New England, and the Pennsylvania Dutch v/ith the Mohawk Dutch of 
New York. The composite man resulting from this union proved to be 
an excellent product. 

The name " Tioga " is said to mean " The Gateway," and may well 
apply to the gateway forced by the waters of the Tyadaghton through 
the rugged mountain barrier near Ansonia. The territory of Tioga 
county was taken from Lycoming county, which in like manner was 
taken from Northumberland county; so that Lycoming is our mother and 
Northumberland our grandmother. 

The first comers lived near the soil and their lives were severe and 
primitive. They were the " plain people," who enjoyed the blessings of 
poverty in abundance. They lived principally on game and fish, with 
"samp," made by pulverizing parched corn with a mortar made of a 
hollowed stump and a pestle by tying a smooth stone to a young sapling. 
The cattle ' ' browsed ' ' in the woods with the deer, and their roads were 
at first " blazed " paths through the woods or the Indian trails. They 
wore moccasins and coarse stuffs, like linsey-woolsey and tow linen, 
and were clothed partly in the skins of animals. Fashion had not yet 
moved in with her court, but a soft skirt of beautifully dressed deer-skin 
was not uncomely, and the young men wore coon-skin caps in imitation 
of Franklin at the French court. All were expert in the use of the rifle. 
It is related of the Furman girls that they brought down Bruin with un- 
erring aim while carrying off their young pigs at Big Meadows, Ansonia. 

For recreation they engaged in athletic sports and games, like run- 
ning, jumping, target-shooting, quoit-pitching, as did Washington and 



ANNIVERSARY IN THE SCHOOLS. 23 

Chief Justice Marshall, of Virginia. Their best houses were rude log 
cabins chinked with moss or mud, with puncheon floors and great fire 
places. They were cosy and comfortable, and I have no doubt that they 
were sometimes given up with real regret, for more pretentious homes. 

The education was primitive also. Their study was mostly in the 
school of nature. Those who attained a little knowledge of books, gath- 
ered it by the light of blazing pine knots in the great fire places, if they 
were able to command a Daboll's Arithmetic or Cobb's Speller. They 
were widely separated in their forest homes, but they were social and 
helpful. They attended building bees, logging bees, quilting bees and 
seemed never to be troubled about the question, "Who is my neighbor?" 

The whole territory was covered over with a heavy growth of many 
kinds of most valuable timber trees, but the woodsman's axe played 
hovoc with them. Great pines, massive and straight and beautiful as 
Grecian columns, were felled and burned for want of a market. Later 
mills were erected and the lumber was floated down the rivers in time of 
freshets to the cities and the seaboard. Coal was mined in a small way 
for local use prior to 1800. The soil was strong and productive every 
where for grain growing and grazing. It was a goodly land and never 
failed the farmer, when he tilled it well. When he lumbered a little 
and farmed it less, the crop was likely to be short. 

In 1812 the east and west road was cut out from Lake Erie to the 
Delaware river through all the northern tier counties. The same year, 
the county was organized judicially. A young man arrayed in a scarlet 
waist-coat and a blue coat with brass buttons and a green bag contain- 
ing a fiddle, held the first session of the courts in William Bache's log 
house, Wellsboro. In the evening the court-room was cleared for danc- 
ing, in which the Court took part, when not engaged in furnishing music 
for the dance. He was John Bannister Gibson, who became one of the 
greatest, best-equipped judges of the Commonwealth. 

Slavery existed here. A few slaves were brought from the several 
states ; but chiefly from Maryland and Delaware, but the soil, the climate 
and the public sentiment were against it, and it soon passed out, and in 
its place was established an "underground railroad," with several sta- 
tions in the county for assisting runaway slaves through to Canada. 
Sometimes slave advertisements, calling on the public to help recover the 
runaways appeared in the papers ; but none were ever recovered so far 
as known. 

The pioneer railroad was built by the Tioga Navigation Company in 
1840. It was primitive also. Iron straps were laid upon wooden string- 
ers ; but " navigatian " by their road was not free from danger from a 
habit the iron rails fell into of becoming detached at the ends, and pro- 
jecting themselves unceremoniously through the car-bottom among the 
passengers. 

The progress in education has been marked. The pioneer schoo 
teacher saw the day of small beginnings. He taught the "three R's" 



24 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

and a good-sized birch gad was his sign of authority, and it is said he 
sometimes applied the Scriptures with it. He hired his own school room, 
furnished his own wood — and cut it— and taught the young idea how to 
shoot, for two dollars a week ! But he lived and he did not surrender. 
To-day, 400 accomplished teachers, fairly paid, instruct in many branches 
11,500 pupils of the common schools. They constantly supply trained 
minds to conduct the moral, social and civil affairs of every community. 

Such, as above briefly stated, were the small beginnings from which 
our present advantages sprang. What a different picture this spot of 
earth to-day presents ! The placid country side, covered with peace, as 
with a garment— the cattle on a thousand hills — the cheerful villages— 
the busy shops— the schools— the churches — the happy homes and their 
sincere affections — attest the free land, free government and free wor- 
ship of the conscience. If any are discontented with such a lot and such 
a people — they might go far, very far, and fare worse. 

May we not congratulate ourselves upon our ancestry ? It must do us 
great good to let our minds frequently revert to them, their labors, their 
characters; their lives. If it is true, as has been said, that he is a public 
benefactor who makes two blades of grass grow where but one grew be- 
fore—the early pioneers ought to have monuments erected to their mem- 
ory by their grateful descendents. 

They made the wild and savage wilderness to bloom and blossom like 
the rose. They were not showy or vainglorious, but had kept the even 
tenor of their way, living simple lives — honest, patient, truthful, stead- 
fast. They laid the foundation in conscientious constancy and forti- 
tude—and we partake of the fruits of their labor and lives. The land 
did not yield spices, frankincense, silks nor pearls ; but it yielded men 
and women, far above the value of silver and gold and acres of dia- 
monds. Let us keep this dear land which they reclaimed, in fear and 
tears— keep it and guard it from the dangers of wealth and luxury, 
ignorance and anarchy, vice and crime, civil strife and party pas- 
sion, and every other evil thing which may make it unsafe or unfit to 
live in. So shall we keep and prove our own patriotism and find reason- 
ble assurance of contentment and happiness. 



THE ANNIVERSARY IN THE CHURCHES. 



Sunday, March 27th, a few churches in the county held services com- 
memorative of our one hundredth anniversary, and in some of the Sunday- 
schools more or less attention was given to the event. Every church in 
Wellsboro had large congregations that day and every pastor gave his 
hearers a sermon appropriate to the occasion. 

In the First Baptist church Rev. N. L. Reynolds preached in the 
evening an historical discourse from Deuteronomy ii :1, "Then we turned 
and took our journey into the wilderness." He dwelt strongly on the 
pioneer epoch and the different causes for emigration and especially 
the noble thirst for either religious or civil liberty. 

In the Presbyterian church Rev. A. C. Shaw, D. D., preached an his- 
torical sermon in the morning. The Sunday-school hour was devoted to 
general exercises and excellent addresses were made by Mr. Charles Os- 
good, who was its superintendent most of the time for half a century 
and also by Hon. David Cameron. In the evening there was a popular 
meeting and the house was crowded. The Wellsborough Military Band 
was present and rendered several appropriate pieces adding greatly to 
the enjoyment of the occasion. Alfred J. Shattuck, Esq., read the ad- 
dress of the late Justice Henry W. Williams which was delivered at the 
laying of the comer-stone of the new Presbyterian church in 1894. Short 
addresses were made by Mr. Leonard Harrison, Prof. Henry E. Raesly, 
and Arthur M. Roy. Rev. Dr. Shaw closed the meeting with a touching 
reference to the life and self-sacrificing devotion of the pioneer pastor of 
that church, the late Rev. J. F. Calkins. 

In the Methodist church its pastor Rev. Joseph Dennis, preached his- 
torically Sunday evening on " Our Debt to the Pioneer," and Rev. O. S. 
Chamberlayne, a former pastor, gave an interesting reminiscent address. 
Mr. Chamberlayne, who had preached Sunday morning was pastor of 
this church for the five years ending in 1893. 

At the services in St. Peter's church on Sunday evening. Rev. John 
0' Toole addressed his congregation regarding the county centennial. As 
the county's Hving citizens have just witnessed the close of Tioga's first 
century and its entrance upon the second century of its history and devel- 
opment, he emphasized strongly the fleeting nature of man's mortal Ufe. 

In discussing the centennial in St. Paul's church on Sunday morning, 
Rev. WilUam Heakes presented a picture of the discouraging conditions 
in Wellsboro of pioneer days as regarded religious efforts. He then re- 
ferred to the Morrises and others identified with the founding here in 
1838 of St. Paul's church, the oldest of the existing church societies suc- 
ceeding, as it did the lapsed Quaker organization. He also paid tribute 
to the zealous missionary labors of the first rector, the late Rev. Charles 
Breck. 



THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 



The Tioga County Centennial celebration was held in Wellsboro on 
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, June 29th and 30th and July 1st, 
1904, in accordance with the program prepared by the Centennial Com- 
mission, so far as the weather permitted. Unfortunately the last two 
days were rainy and some of the spectacular features had to be omitted, 
greatly to the disappointment of the immense crowds of people in at- 
tendance on both Thursday and Friday. 

A salute of 21 guns was fired at sunrise on Wednesday morning and 
repeated on Thursday and Friday mornings. 

In the forenoon " Diavolo ", (Mr. A. L. Wolfe,) the daring bicyclist 
with the big Jabour Carnival Company, performed his perilous feat of 
riding his bicycle down a steep incline and ' ' looping the loop. ' ' His 
dizzy and narrow pathway was erected in Main street in front of the 
court-house. This exhibition of nerve and daring was highly commended 
by the throng of people who witnessed it. Mr. Wolfe repeated his per- 
formance in the afternoon and evening and on Thursday morning ; but 
the heavy showers prevented the free performance that afternoon and 
the next day. 

The Wellsborough Military Band of thirty pieces gave a fine concert 
on the public square on Wednesday afternoon. 

The Antiquarian Exhibit was opened on Wednesday morning in his- 
toric St. Paul's church building, on the corner of Walnut and Charles 
streets, and it was the center of much interest during the centennial 
celebration. Considering the inclement weather it was very liberally 
patronized and financially it was self sustaining. Among the more than 
900 exhibits were many very interesting and valuable relics. 

The commemorative exercises on Wednesday were held on the public 
square, where a large platform and comfortable seats for 1,000 or more 
people had been erected. Hon. Charles Tubbs, of Osceola, President of the 
Centennial Commission, presided, and made the introductory address : 

THE president's ADDRESS. 

This celebration covers in its scope the whole of Tioga county. In 
one way and another it is intended to illustrate most of the phases of its 
complex life. There is the element of time — 100 years and more — the 
natural features of our territory, the people, their origin and develop- 
ment, physical, mental, moral. Distinguished sons and daughters from 
abroad, and at home, in poetry and prose will give an appreciation of 



THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 27 

this dear home of ours. It will come along upon the installment plan 
during these three June and July days. 

This is the opening day. No special trains unload the multitudes 
from the outlying towns and boroughs at your door. Such of you as are 
present are mainly the people of the county town and of the parent 
township of Delmar. 

I want to talk with you for ten minutes about your own locality, 
about the family from whom Wellsboro took its name and about the 
origin of the name of Delmar. I want to give you a glimpse— two auth- 
entic glimpses in fact of an eye witness— at the life that was lived here 
in Delmar 100 years ago, and some of the stirring incidents thereof 
which have not hitherto seen the light of day. 

When I came up to this county seat yesterday the train brought me 
on the borders of your borough through what has been known as the 
Big Marsh. One hundred years ago it was known as the Strawbridge 
Marsh. John Strawbridge bought it of the State in 1785. He was the 
warantee and patentee. He died in 1793 and by process of law his son, 
George Strawbridge, became the owner. George Strawbridge lived in 
the state of Delaware. He was born in Philadelphia in 1784. He was 
educated at Princeton college. He was a member of the bar. About 
1806 he started out, aged 22, to look after his lands in Tioga county, of 
which he owned many thousand acres. 

In his last years, at his home in New Orleans, after he had served a 
term upon the bench of the Supreme Court of Louisiana, he wrote out 
the memoirs of his life for his son, Henry, who subsequently died in the 
service of the C. S. A. 

By the gracious courtesy of Helen, wife of Hon. Charles S. Fair- 
childs. Secretary of the Treasury in the first cabinet of President Cleve- 
land, I am permitted to lay before you some passages from the obser- 
vations of George Strawbridge upon affairs in Delmar as he saw them in 
1806 and thereabout. They are as follows : 

"W. H. Wells, Esq., was a member of the Sussex (Delaware) bar 
and a Senator in Congress. A short time before I came to Sussex he 
had left it. His residence had been the town of Dagsborough, named 
after his father-in-law. Gen. Dagsworthy— a large proprietor in that 
county. 

"Mr. Wells had a most agreeable family and kept the most hospitable 
house in the neighborhood, and was a great favorite with the bar. 

* ' Moved by a love of change, so common with us, he was tempted to 
join a number of famihes who transferred themselves to the Beechwoods 
of Pennsylvania, to which they gave the name of Delmar, from the first 
syllable of two states. I am reminded that the idea was not original. 
About the time that the Federal Constitution was under formation a 
plan was proposed of throwing the three counties on the Delaware, the 
eastern shore of Maryland and the two counties of Virginia, Northamp- 
ton and Accomac, into one state which it was proposed to call Vir-ma- 



28 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

del. It would have made a beautiful little state. The plan was, 
however, discovered, opposed and defeated, though I never knew by 
what influences, for it had some strong support. 

' ' It was adjudged by my friends in Philadelphia I would be best em- 
ployed in looking into the affairs of my father and of his brother, lately 
deceased, in Pennsylvania (1805) . As this step was supposed to bring 
me in contact with Mr. Wells, I was offered and furnished with the 
strongest of letters. 

"In a short time I was on the road for the 'Backwoods ' and found 
my way to Delmar and W. H. Wells. Most agreeable was the meeting. 
It would not be easy to decide who was the most pleased, myself to find 
I was so frankly and warmly received by so agreeable a family, or Mr. 
Wells to find a friend from Delaware in the Beechwoods, for there was 
no time lost in forming an acquaintance ; notwithstanding the difference 
of age we were friends at once. He sifted me thoroughly of all Dela- 
ware news which he devoured most greedily, talking half the night and 
all the day, and I had a good deal to learn from him in exchange. * * 

' ' My last visit to Mr. Wells was in November of the following year. 
He had been attending court at Williamsport, the county town of Ly- 
coming county ; where I made my headquarters. 

" I had learned that Mr. Wells's family had passed an unpleasant win- 
ter. A Mr. Jackson had decided to become one of Mr. Wells's settlers. 
purchased a piece of land, took out his wife, had a house built and went 
to work clearing land, etc. 

"I at once took my horse in the morning and the same day at sunset 
encountered Mr. W. on the other side of the Allegany en route with his 
whole household, they having left home early in the morning to be home 
no more, and my purpose was to escort them over that rough and soli- 
tary part of the route, the motive for which he fully appreciated. 

' ' Early in the morning we were on the road again but made a poor 
day's travel over difficult roads with numerous fordings of a considerable 
stream called Pine Creek, I think nearly twenty, with a rapid current. 
It was sunset when we reached a comfortable wayside house at the foot 
of the mountain, where it was decided to quarter ourselves for the night. 

"Mr. Wells then related to me some of his experiences of the past 
winter. He said that Jackson had promptly selected a piece of land 
near him, returned to Williamsport for his wife, etc., near to his own. 
Mr. Wells and they were passing the winter not unpleasantly when they 
made this discovory, that their houses were beset by night, for what pur- 
pose, or by whom, it was not known. It was afterwards said that Jack- 
son was in the habit of talking about his money very commonly, and as 
this was a scarce commodity in that rough country it did not escape re- 
mark ; they watched, and one night when on the lookout, two men were 
seen to rise from behind a stump near the house, upon which a gun was 
fired, and on examination the tracks of the men were plain enough, one 
of them of enormous size, but the persons had disappeared, leaving 



THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 29 

traces of blood where they had stood. The watchings continued but 
nothing grew out of them. 

" Matters ended on Mr. Wells's part in a resolution to break up his es- 
tablishment and return to Delaware, which was a deadly blow to the 
prosperity of Delmar. I never met Mr. Wells again, although I had a 
letter or two from him." 

Here endeth the quotations from the memoirs of George Strawbridge. 
In one of our histories it is stated that Mr. Wells, when he left us, 
went to Trenton ; in another and more recent one that he went to 
Philadelphia. Not so ; he went to Delaware. 

This morning I drove out to the old Wells plantation on the old Del- 
mar road. I looked to see the stump behind which the marauders 
crouched. It was not there. Even the ' ' Beechwoods ' ' were gone, and 
such straggling remnants as remained were dead at the tops. I came 
back to town over the road traversed by George Strawbridge when he 
went to visit his lands at the Marsh, on the Tioga and Cowanesque. 

I know it has always been stated by our learned historians that Wells- 
boro was named in honor of Mary Hill Wells, the wife of Benjamin Wis- 
tar Morris. It may be so. But at the time Wellsboro was named just a 
little way out on the old road towards Stony Fork lived William Hill 
Wells, a man so distinguished in civil life that he sat in the United 
States Senate from 1799 to 1804 and resigned his seat in order to move 
to the " Beechwoods " of Tioga county with his negro slaves and other 
material wealth — a man so distinguished that after his return to Del- 
aware he again represented that state in the United States Senate from 
1813 to 1817. Gideon Wells, another brother of Mary Morris, a contractor 
and builder of the state road running through this town, on the line of 
Main street during that formative period, also lived and owned lands in 
this immediate vicinity. Wellsboro no doubt was named in honor of the 
Wells family. 

President Tubbs then introduced Hon. H. H. Rockwell, a prominent 
lawyer of Elmira, N. Y., a civil war veteran, who was born at Law- 
renceville and who still has a summer home in Lawrence township. His 
address was about 45 minutes in length and was attentively listened to 
by the large audience. 

HON. H. H. ROCKWELL'S ADDRESS. 

I am glad of the opportunity to come to my native county and partici- 
pate in this celebration. The relations between Elmira, my present 
home, and Tioga county, my old home, are, and always have been 
so close and intimate as to make state and county lines of little conse- 
quence. Elmira is the natural metropolis for Tioga county. Your rivers 
and streams run in her direction. Your railroad communication with her 
are better than with other parts of your state. Our merchants regard 
you as their territory. In fact when you are dealing with them you are 
dealing very largely with natives of your own county. It may surprise 



30 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

you to know that out of our city population of 40,000, one thousand at 
least, according to careful estimates are from Tioga county. They con- 
trol our banks and business houses, and are honored members of the 
learned professions. Among others that might be named are the follow- 
ing : E. R. Backer, President Merchant's National Bank ; Ray Tomp- 
kins, Vice Pres't. Chemung Canal Trust Co., Pres't. E. W. L. & R. R. 
Co. and proprietor of the wholesale grocery business of C. M. & R. 
Tompkins ; A. Lee Smith, organizer and Vice Pres't. of the Chemung 
Canal Trust Company ; W. W. Fish, retired merchant, and large real 
estate owner of the city ; C. S. Mather, of Goff & Mather, wholesale to- 
bacco dealers ; W. H. Ferguson, commission dealer ; George Brooks of 
Crandall & Brooks, dry goods ; Warren F. Beck, American Sales Book 
Co.; R. R. Soper, Pres't. Gazette Company; Dr. Sherman Voorhees, 
specialist ; Dix W. Smith, attorney ; James Bacon, City Judge ; G. W. 
Nealey, contractor ; H. T. Gilbert, grocer ; C. B. Mather, coal dealer ; 
B. B. HoUiday, retired ; A. E. Campbell, insurance. 

It is therefox-e not inappropriate that I, as a native of your county 
and a resident of that city, should stand here to-day as a representative 
of the men from old Tioga who have so largely helped to build up other 
commvmities and especially the "Queen City" of the southern tier of 
New York. It could not be expected that I should make an historical ad- 
dress. My long absence and my identification with ,affairs of another 
community have not been conducive to such a result. I must leave local 
history to your own local historians such as my friends, Hon. Charles 
Tubbs, Major Merrick and John L. Sexton. Either of them would be 
much more competent to discuss the history of your county and I feel 
somewhat of an interloper. But if I cannot give you history, I may be 
able to give you some thoughts appropriate to the occasion. 

My first visit to Wellsboro was made over 40 years ago when I walked 
from my father's home, four miles east of Lawrenceville, to Wellsboro 
to attend a teacher's institute and then walked back, and I desire to say 
now that I was amply repaid. At that institute I met M. F. and V. A. 
Elliott and John I. Mitchell, all of them being then common school 
teachers of the county. Rev. N. L. Reynolds was then County Super- 
intendent and he gave me the highest compliment of my life. A large 
number of teachers — mostly ladies — were gathered around him receiving 
their annual certificates. As I stepped forward to get mine, he said to 
me, "Mr. Rockwell, have you been attending school during the past 
year?" I answered, "No;" and he asked, "What have you been do- 
ing?" With some embarassment I answered, "Since the close of my 
three months' winter term of teaching, I have worked on a brickyard." 
He turned to the others and said, " Ladies and gentleman, here is an ex- 
ample for you ; this young man has been working during the year on a 
brickyard, and yet I find that he has made great improvement, that 
there is a greater difference in the grading of his certificate between this 
year and last than in that of any other teacher in the county." My 



THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 31 

friends I cannot tell you what an inspiration that was to me. This was 
forty-five years ago, and I have not seen Mr. Reynolds in more than 
forty years, but in my heart I still cherish the greatest feeling of grati- 
tude, and if he is still alive I should rejoice to meet him and thank him 
personally for the good he did me on that occasion. 

My experience as a common school teacher in your county was of the 
pleasantest nature. I made a large number of friends among my pupils, 
and those friendships have, many of them, been for a lifetime. Fre- 
quently in my professional life something occurs to bring back a vivid 
recollection of those old days. 

While Wellsboro is the geographical center of your county, it is also 
the political center. It attracts from the other parts of the county the 
brightest and most active young men — those ambitious of political dis- 
tinction. Here they are educated and stimulated, and thus your com- 
munity obtains more than its fair share of honors and emoluments. This 
sometimes creates a little good natured jealously in other parts of the 
county. For instance : There used to be an old fellow down at Law- 
renceville with very liberal ideas who did not believe in a literal hell. 
One day he got in conversation with the minister and expressed his 
views on the subject very forcibly. " But," said the minister " what do 
you believe becomes of the wicked?" "Oh," said the old man, "we don't 
have many of them around Lawrenceville, and those we have either 
study law or get elected to office and go to Wellsboro to live. ' ' 

You have an honored record of great names. But you should not for- 
get that many of these men were not to the manor born. H. W. Wil- 
liams came here from Susquehanna county. Pa. John I. Mitchell was 
born and reared in Tioga township, just over the town line from Law- 
rence. 

Before your court-house was built Lawrenceville had become a manu- 
facturing center. It's leading citizen was one, Lincoln, and he tanned 
the hides of the wild deer and turned them into buckskin mittens. Law- 
renceville then rejoiced in the proud name of " Leather Mitten Harbor." 
As such it became and was for years the metropolis of the county. Nor 
is this all. Lawrenceville to-day possesses one of the oldest organized 
churches in the county. Lawrence township contained the first school 
house. The first member of Congress from Tioga county, Hon. James 
Ford, was from Lawrenceville. Judge Ira Kilburn, of Lawrenceville, 
was one of the earliest and most prominent of your pioneers. He was 
the father-in-law of Hon. John C. Knox, one of the most distinguished 
men of his time, and a native of Tioga county. Judge Kilburn was also 
the father of Gen. Charles L. Kilburn, Major-General in the regular 
army. 

Then there was Dr. Curtis Parkhurst, an early Sheriff of your county, 
whose son is now a Judge of the Supreme Court of New York, and Dr. 
Simeon Power, a distinguished physician of early times and a Sheriff of 
the county, and whose son, Simeon, was also Sheriff of the county. Nor 



32 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

should I omit Dr. L. Darling, one of the earliest and ablest physicians, 
whose family have filled and continued to fill in the second and third gen- 
erations so large a part in the medical profession and the business his- 
tory of the north end of the county. 

It is fitting that we commemorate these pioneers. They were strong 
men physically and intellectually. They were patriotic and self-sacrific- 
ing. They and their neighbors spent their lives in subduing the wilder- 
ness and founding homes for their children. They planted civilization in 
place of barbarism. They reared large families and gave to them the 
best possible advantages. Your present prosperity is the natural out- 
growth of their work. 

Society is as much a growth as are these magnificent trees which con- 
tribute so largely to the beauty of your village. The initial point of so- 
ciety is the family — the home. 

You, today, are celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of the or- 
ganization of Tioga county. You are reviving the memories of its early 
settlers. You are rehearsing the experiences of the men who during all 
this century have been making your community, making the various 
smaller communities, which, knit together, constitute your county. To- 
day you are a busy and progressive community. You have your fertile 
agricultural valleys, your cattle upon a thousand hills, your prosperous 
villages, your mines and manufacturing interests. These are material 
things of which you may well be proud. But you may be prouder still 
of the pioneers through whose labors these things have come about. 
And not only were they responsible for your material prosperity, but 
also for the character of your people, the quality of your citizenship. 

Let me give you a concrete example which may serve to emphasize 
the thought which I am trying to express. More than sixty years ago, 
when there was less than half a dozen settlers in Lawrence township, 
between the Tioga river and the Jackson line, when the whole east half 
of that township, constituted an almost unbroken wilderness, there 
moved into that wilderness a man of middle age, strong, sturdy, a mill- 
wright by trade, whose name was Caleb Sweet. He began the con- 
struction of a saw-mill on what is known as " Smith's Creek," and after 
working in the cold and icy water of that stream in the fall, he was 
taken with inflammatory rheumatism and confined to his bed for more 
than a year. During this time he took up the study of the Bible. He 
had a retentive memory, good reasoning powers and a facility of ex- 
pression. He also procured and read theological books, and when he so 
far recovered as to be able to get around, he got his neighbors together 
and preached to them. The result was the formation of the East Law- 
rence Christian church, which was kept together and administered to by 
Elder Sweet for more than twenty years. Other settlers moved in, 
some of them with more education, and a Sunday-school was organized 
about 1850, which has ever since been maintained, and is to-day one of 
the best and most up-to-date rural Sunday-schools in this county. 



THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 33 

About thirty years ago they constructed a church edifice, which has 
been kept in good order and repair, which has been constantly worship- 
ped in by a large congregation, and is in striking contrast to-day with 
many of the rural churches throughout the country. 

More than fifty years ago one member of this community became a 
member of the board of school directors for the township, and remained 
as secretary and president of the board for more than twenty years. 
During this time he exerted himself to have the best teaching ability ob- 
tainable and to see to it that the school was kept up-to-date in every par- 
ticular. As a result of these experiences it is a fact that no member 
of that community has ever been indicted or convicted of a crime ; that 
no member of that community has ever gone to a prison or a poor-house. 

From that community men have gone who have become prominent in 
neighboring states and in your own state. It has had its representatives 
in Congress and in the State Legislatures of New York and Pennsyl- 
vania, and one of your own members of the Legislature at the present 
time received his early education and his inspiration to be something and 
somebody from the school and Sunday-school in this community. 

When the War of the Rebellion broke out, almost every young man in 
that community, and many others who were married and had families, 
enlisted in defense of the Union. Some of them were killed on the field 
of battle, some died in Rebel prisons, while others lived to return to take 
up the burden of life in the same community, and have become, and ever 
since remained, sturdy, substantial, loyal. Christian citizens of the state 
and of the nation. 

This community also had its representatives in the Spanish war, and 
one of the boys reared in this school district is to-day the proud posses- 
sor of a beautiful gold watch given him by the wife of the Colonel of his 
regiment in recognition of his heroism under great risk and trying diffi- 
culties in removing the dead body of her husband from the battlefield at 
Tien Tsin, China. 

It is such communities as this that constitute the hope of the re- 
public. It is such citizens as these that stand as the bulwark of her lib- 
erties. In this era of pessimism as to the future of our nation ; in this 
era of aggrandizement of capital, organization of labor and the con- 
flict between capital and labor, when people on the one hand see immi- 
nent dangers in the plutocracy, and the people on the other hand see 
equally imminent dangers in the proletariat, it must inspire us with hope 
to know that all over the country there exists such rural communities. 
They are in no danger of being swayed and controlled by the plutocracy, 
nor are they in danger of becoming victims of socialism and anarchy, and 
so long as these communities exist under the rights of self government, 
which are guaranteed to all people, the destinies of our nation are, I be- 
lieve, safe in their hands. 

I congratulate you upon the success of this celebration. It is a splen- 



34 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

did showing not only of the material prosperity of your county, but of its 
splendid manhood and womanhood. 

It is a review of the past and brings into bold relief the qualities of 
the pioneers who laid the foundation of your prosperity. It shows you 
in some measure what kind of men and women they were, what kind of 
lives they lived, what they endured and what they accomplished. These 
things are of great value and should be preserved. This celebration will 
have lost its chief value if its results are not preserved. It ought to re- 
sult in the organization and maintenance of an historical society in the 
county and in every township and borough in the county. 

I am still interested in my native county. During a brief part of 
each year I am a resident of the county. I own part of the old home- 
stead in East Lawrence on which I was reared, and there have my sum- 
mer home, among old schoolmates and friends of my boyhood. 

I am glad and proud of this opportunity of taking part in this cele- 
bration and shall be equally glad to aid in any way in my power in mak- 
ing its results permanent. 

At the close of Mr. Rockwell's address Alfred J. Shattuck, Esq., 
read a poem written by Mrs. Fanny Shove Watrous, wife of F. E. Wat- 
rou, Esq., of Wellsboro. This poem follows : 

POEM BY MRS. FANNY SHOVE WATROUS. 

The wind blows high ; a slant beam shines 

Into the ranks of stately pines. 
The gray hawks circle and poise and scream 

Over the brawl of a rushing stream ; 
Their sleek wings glistened, their shadows fall. 

Athwart the leaves of the forest tall. 

Clear in the distance a liquid note 

Chimes like a bell in a wood-bird's throat. 
The deep wood lies in a dream of days 

When the red man threaded its sinuous ways. 
While barefoot children laugh and call 

Through the darksome paths of the forest tall. 

The wind flower lifts a timid head. 

The trillium flaunts a banner red. 
The sunflower glows by the cottage door. 

The sun lies warm on the rude log floor ; 
There is rest and cheer in the hut for all 

Who dwell in the shade of the forest tall. 

The Bob White whistles ; the red deer bounds 

In startled flight from the noisy hounds. 
Within drones the buzz of the housewife's wheel. 

Without sounds the thud of the woodman's steel. 
At the stroke of his axe the giants fall 

And their ranks grow thin in the forests tall. 

Progress leaps at the heels of change ; 

The new grows old and the old grows strange. 
Now a newer life rolls on its way 



THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 35 

Where once the marks of the woodpath lay 

Than ever they dreamed— those woodsmen grim 

Who strode of old through the forest dim. 

But yet, when the harvest moon's soft light 

Silvers the pine in the summer night. 
Lovers still loiter side by side 

Down the path that looks on the brimming tide. 
And youth and joy hold the heart in thrall 

As they did of old in the forest tall. 

The last speaker was the Hon. Simon B. Elliott, of Reynoldsville, 
Jefferson county, for forty years a resident of Tioga county. He eulo- 
gized the pioneers and he spoke of the people of this generation in this 
county as noted as a class for their geniality, uprightness, strength of 
character and natural intelligence. He spoke of the excellence of our 
educational institutions. He urged that in view of the disappearance of 
the forests of Tioga county, agriculture should be improved and pro- 
ductive forestry should be established, drawing attention to what ex- 
Governor William A. Stone, who was present, had done while Chief Ex- 
excutive for the forest preserves of the State. 

Following the speechmaking there was a game of base-ball on the 
Athletic grounds between a Wellsboro nine and a team composed of 
Arnot and Morris Run. The game was won by the Wellsboro team by a 
score of 6 to 5. 

The evening attractions consisted of a performance by the Twentieth 
Century Minstrels, the whole company, including an excellent orchestra, 
being composed of Wellsboro young men. There was also a beautiful 
display of fireworks on Main street which was enjoyed by a large crowd 
of people. 



THE EXERCISES ON THURSDAY. 



The largest crowd attended the Centennial on Thursday, Special 
trains from the Cowanesque valley, from Lawrenceville and from An- 
trim greatly increased the multitude who reached the county seat by pri- 
vate conveyance. 

Many veterans of the War of the Rebellion were present to join in 
the military parade, but this feature was abandoned on account of the 
rain. It is estimated that at least 500 veteran soldiers attended the Cen- 
tennial, • and if they could have been seen in line it would undoubtedly 
have been the largest body of veterans of the Civil war which has ever 
gathered in Tioga county. There were some old soldiers who traveled 
across the continent to once again meet "the boys of '61" who were 
their comrades in the field. 

The R. P. Babcock Post, No. 258, Grand Army of the Republic, with 
109 veterans in line and a drum corps, was the only Post which came in 
organized form. They made a fine appearance marching up Main street 
from the depot and it was some indication of what an imposing and 
affecting sight the mihtary parade would have been but for the rain. 

It was necessary to hold the commemorative exercises of the day in 
the Bache Auditorium, which was well filled. Music was furnished by 
Wellsborough's Military Band. Hon. Horace B. Packer, Vice President 
of the Centennial Commission, presided, and when he called the meeting 
to order at 2:15 p. m., he heartily welcomed the people, especially those 
from a distance, who participated in the celebration, and he also warmly 
commended the excellent Antiquarian Exhibit as a remarkably rare col- 
lection of historic relics. 

A "Centennial Ode," written by Mr. M. H. Cobb, of Philadelphia, 
the founder of the Agitator in 1854, and its editor for many years, was 
read by Mr. Arthur M. Roy, the present editor and proprietor of that 
journal and the Secretary of the Centennial Commission. This beautiful 
poem by Mr. Cobb was contributed as " a tribute to untamed nature and 
to the courage, faith and determination of the hardy persons who tamed 
it" 

THE CENTENNIAL ODE. 

Alone with nature ! what a precious boon 

To be alone, and yet be not alone. 
Mid spectral shadows of the sun at noon 

Upon the brown, untrodden carpet thrown. 
How strange to think ! Two hundred years ago 

This wilderness no conqueror had profaned. 



THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 37 

Only the red man wandered to and fro. 
Watching the seasons as they waxed and waned. 

Yet this untrodden wild was quick with life. 

And untamed nature spake with many a tongue. 
The rocks, the hills the running brooks were rife 

With tales idyllic and with songs unsung. 
All were endowed with speech. The gentle wind 

Lingered amid the pines and left a sigh. 
The maples kissed, and murmurs left behind. 

Stirring the beech to laughter and passed by ; 

It woke the ash contralto semitone. 

Gave to the oak a deeper, hoarse refrain. 
The sombre hemlock of the wild alone 

Had speech as when the querulous complain. 
The hurrying streams— we know the songs they sung. 

We know the anthem of the waterfall. 
As if a mighty orchestra gave tongue 
And in one grand crescendo blended all ! 

Even the blighted monarchs of the wood. 
As the wind smote them, answered with a wail. 

That coursed re-echoing, through the solitude 
Giving a ghostly message to the gale. 

And through the solemn silence of the night 
The wild resounded with the panther's scream. 

The howl of wolves, the quarry's hasty flight- 
Swift banishing the sweet Arcadian dream. 



Enter, the pioneer ! The man who can. 

The sturdy pioneer, who could and would ! 
The man who, ever since the world began 

Has been entitled to man's gratitude ! 
The man who crystallized his words in deeds ! 

The man of sacrifice, of hardships dire ! 
The man in whose set purpose lie the seeds 

Of heroism and patriotic fire ! 

The man who takes his destiny in hand. 

Determined through the world to hew his way- 
One of the fearless and determined band 

Who smite the wilderness and summon day 
We hear the ringing axe, the thund'ring crash 

Of trees whose fall lets in the kindly sun. 
We see the sunbeam on his weapon flash 

As it shall flash until the field be won. 

We see his log-built home, so plain and rude. 

The faithful wife, the children at the door. 
We see, and know, that this great solitude 

Henceforth shall be a solitude no more ! 
Where prowled the wolf we see the waving grain ; 

Where once was deepest gloom we see the light ! 
Where nothing grew we see the loaded wain ; 

Where swamps lay dank are meadows lush and bright ; 
Hamlets and towns arise. We hear the hum 

Of many industries. We hear no more 



38 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

The woods and waters. Art has stricken dumb 
The varied speech that nature had of yore ! 



O, wonderous transformation ! Iron men. 
We thank you for the lessons you have taught ! 

Nor can we underrate your triumph, when 
We look upon the wonders you have wrought ! 

Chairman Packer then presented ex-Governor William A. Stone, a 
native of Delmar township, who was personally known to all present and 
who was received with hearty applause. 

ADDRESS BY EX-GOVERNOR WILLIAM A. STONE. 

Far enough north to escape the heat and pests of warmer climates 
and far enough south to escape the extreme cold and rigor of northern 
winters lays Tioga county in Northern Pennsylvania, with advantages 
over disadvantages far in excess of that of any other territory of equal 
size that is known to me. Her hills swell into mountains as you approach 
Pine creek on the southwest, and her streams of pure, clear water grow 
into rivers as you travel northward. Her climate and topography are 
variable and can satisfy all tastes. To those who love to see the wheat 
and tobacco grow, the smiling, fruitful valleys of the Tioga and Cow- 
anesque woo them with promise more than realized by careful husbandry. 
To those who love the grass lands, the Umestone hills of Delmar and 
Charleston bring a rich product to the dairy that is not surpassed in the 
world. To those who work beneath the surface of the earth, who 
scarcely ever see the sun but who find a fascination in the mysteries 
and dangers of the mines, the rich coal fields of the eastern part of the 
county give employment. While those who live a more strenuous 
life, who love the rod and rifle, and who find a peace and solace in the 
mountains which God made to remind men of their insignificance, the 
lofty spurs of the Alleghanies that wall in Pine creek offer a welcome 
and a home that is irresistible. 

We say it is fortunate for a woman when she marries a man that ap- 
preciates and loves her. It was fortunate for Tioga county that she was 
settled by a people that have ever appreciated and loved her. They 
came from the north, from the lands of ice and cold — from New Eng- 
land and from New York. They were Americans when they came here 
and did not have to be Americanized. They were the men and their 
descendents who fought with Washington through the Revolution. They 
froze and starved with him through that terrible winter at Valley Forge. 
They were with him when he crossed the Delaware. They were with 
him at Yorktown when victory crowned their long struggle. They were 
soldiers in the war of 1812. They were just the class of men and women 
who cling to a home country and love it. They were saving and eco- 
nomical without being penurious. They were quick to resent an injury 



THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 39 

or an insult, without being quarrelsome. They were students of nature 
and of books, without being cranks. They were easy-going, good-natured 
and charitable, without being lazy. They were virtuous and their 
thoughts were on the plane of high morality. They were great men and 
women in their rugged life without knowing it. And they grew greater 
here in Tioga county amidst her hills and rivers and forests, amidst na- 
ture's environments that will develop men. They hated hypocrisy and 
deceit and corruption. They educated their children as best they could, 
and brought them up in the fear of the Lord. They were generous and 
hospitable and neighborly. They gossiped a little, as all people do, but 
they loved each other and they loved the land. They loved not the city. 
They believed with Geo. W. Sears, "that brick and mortar breed filth 
and crime, and a pulse of evil that throbs and beats, and men are with- 
ered before their prime by the curse paved in with the lanes and streets. " 
They took more pleasure in stalking a buck or trout stream than they 
did in stocking an ice company, a meat company or a liquid air com- 
pany. I think it must be in the climate or the soil. It may be in the 
hills or the rivers or the valleys of Tioga county, but surely there 
is a kinship or a clan-ship or an unwritten fraternal sympathy and 
friendship among Tioga county people that does not exist among the 
people of other counties. 

After a somewhat reasonable acquaintance with the people in the 
different counties of the state, I can truthfully say that the people of 
Tioga county are a great people. Their intelligence is high. Their 
average morality is high, and their patriotism has ever been at 
high tide. They have not amassed great wealth, but have rather lived 
to the theme of M. H. Cobb, who for years edited the Wellsboro Agi- 
tator, a Tioga county man and one of nature's poets, who wrote :— 

" If men cared less for wealth and fame 

And less for battle-field and g'lory. 
If, writ in human hearts, a name 

Seemed better than song or stoi-y ; 
If men, instead of nursing pride. 
Would learn to hate and to abhor it. 
If more relied 
On Love to guide 
The world would be the better for it." 

We sent soldiers to fight with Scott and Taylor in the Mexican War. 
When gold was discovered in California and the great crusade began 
across the plains in 1849, citizens from Tioga county tramped the weary 
way with others. In every epoch of this country since Tioga county 
became a county her people have participated. 

The soldiers who fought in the War of the Revolution and who set- 
tled in Tioga county among its earliest settlers were James Strawbridge, 
Samuel Baker, Amasa Stone, Adam Hart, George Hart, Andrew Holli- 
day, Reuben Cook (who was the first permanent settler on the Cowan- 



40 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

esque river) Ebenezer Seeley, Simon Rexford, Israel Bulkley, Nathaniel 
Moody, David Jay, Ayres Tuttle (who fought at Bunker Hill), Daniel 
Lee, Samuel Tubbs, John Ryon, John H. Brown, Asahel Nobles (who 
was also a soldier in the war of 1812) , Harris Hotchkiss, Daniel Wattles, 
Stephen Merritt, James Gray, Russell Rose, Jeremiah Rumsey, Eben- 
ezer Burley, Seth Clark, Isaac Lounsbury, Ebenezer Ripley, Jacob Allen, 
Peter Shumway, Justus Dartt, Israel Greenleaf, Richard Ellis, Royal 
Cole, Robert Steel and Robert Campbell. These men were really the 
first who settled in Tioga county, coming to this territory, nearly all of 
them, prior to the year 1800, and settling in various parts of the county. 

On the roll of citizens from Tioga county who fought in the war of 
1812, we have Captain Henry Baldwin, Samuel Tubbs, David Taylor, 
Reuben Cook, Andrew Bosard, Edsell Mitchell, Ebenezer Terry, John 
B. Farr, Daniel Rose, James Cudworth, Captain Tyre Mabie, Jacob Hus- 
lander, Gad Lamb, Frank U. Spencer, Cornelius Middaugh, John A. 
Smith, James Smith, Sylvester Stewart, John Weeks, Marinus W. StuU, 
William Casbeer, William Wass, Asahel Nobles, George W. Hunt, God- 
frey Bowman, Duncan L. Thompson, Daniel Hunt, Jared Davis, Thomas 
Eldridge, Matthew Boom, Samuel P. King, Jason Cooper, John Crippen, 
Peter Mowrey, Duncan Carl, Stephen Morrell, Solomon Westbrook, 
Henry H. Potter, Vine Segers, Royal Cole, John Persing, Harmer Rug- 
gles, John Sebring, John Neal, John J. Cole, Peleg Potter and Daniel 
Holliday. 

I do not pretend that this is an accurate list. They are such names 
as I have been able to obtain, and it is a curious fact that these same 
names appear in the various regimental rolls among the men who went 
into the War of the Rebellion from this county. 

It was natural that such a people should teach their children to hate 
the slavery of the South and to love the union of the states, and long 
before the guns were fired on Fort Sumter, at the fireside of the homes 
and by the light of the pine torch in the lumber camps, Horace Greeley's 
Tribune and " Uncle Tom's Cabin " were the schoolmasters that set our 
people right on these questions. When Abraham Lincoln first called for 
volunteers to put down the Southern rebellion our people responded 
promptly. 

I cannot begin to give the names of all those who participated in the 
War of the Rebellion, I can only give a few who are more familiar, per- 
haps, to the whole people of the county. Among those who enlisted 
early in response to the call of President Lincoln was Company "H" 
of the Sixth Pennsylvania Reserves, it being the 36th Pennsylvania Regi- 
ment in the line. There was Captain Julius Sherwood, Captain James 
Carle and Lieutenants John W. Rose, M. N. Allen, Silas Rockwell and 
John Hinman. Among the privates in that company were A. A. Scud- 
der, H. J. Ramsdell, who was then employed on the Wellsboro Agitator, 
Ransford B. Webb, C. C. Cone, Thomas Conway, D. D. Holiday, Chester 
Nichols, Asa Warriner, Job Wetmore, J. B. Goodman, George W. Mer- 



THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 41 

rick, Charles Maxwell, W. D. VanHom, James Hazlett, George Jen- 
nings, Benjamin Seeley, William Wingate and Almond Wetmore. 

The next regiment in which our soldiers enlisted quite extensively 
was the 13th Pennsylvania Reserves, or 42nd Pennsylvania Volunteers in 
the line, and the First Pennsylvania Rifles, known all over the civilized 
world as the "Bucktails." Philip Holland was Captain of Company 
"A." John G. narrower was also Captain of that Company, while 
Neri B. Kinsey and Ed. B. Leonard were Lieutenants. In that com- 
pany were John B. Wakely, Thaddeus Babcock, Gabriel Harrower, Wal- 
lace Bogart, W. H. Chase and Daniel Orcutt. 

Company " E " of that famous regiment was commanded by Captain 
Alanson E. Niles, Samuel A. Mack was also a Captain in this Company, 
while Lucius Truman, George A. Ludlow and William Taylor were Lieu- 
tenants. Some of the privates were George W. Sears, the Wellsboro 
poet laureate, George 0. Derby, Caleb Fenton, Dr. Daniel Bacon, Ed- 
ward Wilcox, J. V. Morgan, Robert G. Christnot, Peter D. Walbridge, 
0. B. Stone, J. N. Warriner, E. H. Stone and B. B. Potter. 

Company "G" of the Bucktails was commanded by Hugh McDonald, 
of Tioga, and Lieutenant Jesse B. Doan. Harry C. Bailey, who lost an arm 
in the war, and John EngUsh and H. Kilbourn were members of that 
company. 

The 45th Regiment had four companies which principally came from 
Tioga county. Its first Colonel was Colonel Welsh. Its Lieutenant- 
Colonel was Colonel Bianor. Its Major was Major Kilbourn. 

George P. Scudder was First Lieutenant of Company " F." J. E. 
Woodmansee was also a Lieutenant and H. D. Campbell, W. O. Mer- 
rick and H. D. Rice were in that company. 

Nelson Whitney, of East Charleston, was Captain of Company " E ; " 
also Reese G. Richards ; while among its Lieutenants were Ephriam 
Jeffers, Samuel Haynes and John J. Rygers. Thomas J. Davies, David 
L. Bacon, Samuel Rogers, George W. Brewster and H. D. Deming were 
in that company. 

E. G. Schieffelin and Luke B. Seeley were Captains of Company "H," 
while Reuben H. Close, Levi R. Robb, J. D. Greenfield and Nathan Ed- 
wards were Lieutenants in this company. 

Frank M. Hills, William Chase and Charles W. Hart were Captains at 
different times of Company "I," while George Dwight Smith, James E. 
Catlin, George C. Ackley and DeWitt C. Hoag were Lieutenants in Com- 
pany "I." Lieutenant Dwight Smith and DeWitt Hoag were both 
killed in battle. 

In the 57th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, we had Captain H. 
W. Caulkins, James D. Moore and Charles 0. Etz, a Lieutenant. 

In the 2d Pennsylvania Calvary we had Robert T. Wood, C. R. Tay- 
lor and R. B. Ferry, while in the 7th Pennsylvania Cavalry we had Cap- 



42 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

tain A. J. B. Dartt, Charles 0. Hermans and Lieutenant Henry D. 
Caulkings and Captain Otis G. Gerould. 

In the 101st Pennsylvania Volunteers we had Captain Joseph S. 
Hoard, V. A. Elliott and Melvin L. Clark and Lieutenants F. B. Wylie 
and Abram Vaux. 

In the 106th Pennsylvania Volunteers we had Captain John Irvnn, 
Captain William Green, Henry C. Vail, Israel Biddle and Charles E. 
Whitcomb. 

In the 11th Pennsylvania Cavalry we had Captain B. B. Mitchell, 
Lieutenant John B. Peckring and Andrew J. Klock, 

In the 136th Pennsylvania Volunteers we had Captain John Hammond, 
Judge John I. Mitchell, R. C. Bailey, Charles Ryan, John Seeley and 
Nelson Daily ; also Captain S. D. Phillips and Lieutenant Albert B. 
Close. 

In the 149th Pennsylvania Volunteers the citizens of Tioga county 
were quite well represented. I can only give a few of their names. A. 
J. Sofield was Captain of Company "A," and Louis Bodine, Dudley 
Fish and B. H. Warriner were also Captains of that Company, with John 
Walbridge, John Rexford and George D. Brooks as Lieutenants. John 
B. Wilcox was in the 149th. He was badly wounded at Gettysburg, and 
lay for three days on the battle-field without attention. W. T. Hum- 
phrey was surgeon of this regiment. 

Thomas B. Bryden was Captain of Company " G, " and Henry J. Lan- 
drus was also of this Company. Josiah Hughes, A. B. Eastman, James 
Logan and John Davis were in this company. 

In the 171th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, A. A. Amsbry was 
Captain of Company "A," and L. O. Beach, S. W. Love and William 
Keogh were Lieutenants. 

In the 187th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers Company "A'' 
was originally commanded by Captain George W. Merrick and Lieu- 
tenant Robert Young and Morgan Hart. Afterwards Captain Merrick be- 
came Major and Morgan Hart became Captain and Gerald Dennison, 
T. B. Culver and Cecil Dean were Lieutenants. Major Merrick was the 
only real commander that the 187th Regiment ever had. His superior 
oflficers were only nominally in command. He took the regiment when 
it was green and turbulent and speedily brought it into discipline. At its 
first great battle on the 18th of June, 1864, in front of Petersburg, the regi- 
ment fought like veterans, arid won distinction for courage and it was 
chiefly owing to Major Merrick. He lost his leg in that battle. Had he 
not met with this misfortune he would have rapidly advanced in rank. 
He was an excellent oflScer. The regiment was proud of him and would 
have followed him anywhere. Ephriam Smith, John English, Daniel 
Dewey, Alonzo Mack, L. P. Potter, Louis Doumaux, Ed. Carroll, Eu- 
gene Coolidge, Orvell and Richard Henry, Joseph Brewster, Henry 
Root, Clark Morgan and Henry M. Foote were members of Company 



THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 43 

"A." Ransford B. Webb was Captain of Company "I," and Monroe 
P. Crossley was Lieutenant. 

The 207th Regiment was commanded by Colonel Robert C. Cox, who 
was brevetted Brigadier-General for conspicuous ability and bravery at 
the battle of Fort Steadman, and commanded his brigade at Fort Sedg- 
wick. General Cox, I think, was the only man from Tioga county who 
became a General. The promotion was richly deserved. He was a 
brave man and a superior officer. 

In this regiment were a number of Tioga county men. Elmer E. 
Backer was Captain of Company "A." Its Lieutenant was J. M. Losey. 
In Company "B" were Lieutenants J. H. Schambacker and M. B. 
Haight. In Company "D " S. D. Close was Captain and S. D. Phillips, 
A. B. Close and C. C. Ackley were Lieutenants. In Company "E, " 
W. L. Keogh and James Childs were Lieutenants. Our old friend R. T. 
Wood was Captian of Company "H," while Amasa Culver and 0. P. 
Babcock were Lieutenants. J. J. Reese was Captain of Company "A," 
while John Carr, Thomas D. Elliott, L. A. Mack and W. L. Reese were 
Lieutenants. Darius L. Deane was an officer in this regiment. He lost 
an arm in battle. 

In the 35th Regiment E. G. Schieff elin was Lieutenant and Hugh Young 
was Quartermaster. Dr. W. W. Webb was Surgeon and afterwards 
was Surgeon of the 187th Regiment. David Cameron, Robert H. Steel, 
William Cole, H. S. Johnson and W. R. Fish were members of this regi- 
ment. 

Our preachers and teachers and doctors were in the war. Rev. J. F. 
Cakins was a Chaplain in the 149th Pennsylvania Volunteers, while Dr. 
Nelson Packer, Dr. Morgan L. Bacon, Dr. W. W. Webb and Dr. Daniel 
Bacon and many other physicians of the county were in the army. 
Nearly every company from Tioga county had an English in it. This 
family contributed largely to the war. 

I cannot enumerate all the men who responded to the call of duty in 
this w ar. Many of those whose names I have mentioned were killed in 
battle, or have since died of wounds, and have passed to that camping 
ground beyond the river. Many of those whose names I have not been 
able to mention gave their lives to their country, some of whose graves 
are known and marked, while many sleep in nameless graves. 

Major C. H. Veil was Orderly to Major-General Reynolds at the age 
of 18 years. On the first day of the fight at Gettysburg General Rey- 
nolds was killed. Young Veil bore his body off the field amid a storm of 
Rebel yells and Rebel bullets. 

At the time this war began in 1861, the population of Tioga county 
was about 30,000. Estimating one in each five as males capable of bear- 
ing arms, we have a population of six thousand fighting men in Tioga 
county when the war began. This estimate is quite liberal, because if 
you include the boys who had not reached their majority, you must ex- 



44 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

elude the old men who were voters but yet were too old to go to war, 
and on that basis the estimate of one in five is liberal. 

If we then estimate a fighting population of six thousand, we have 
the surprising statement to make that Tioga county sent over thirty- 
three per cent, of her male fighting population to the front, because 
more than 2,000 men from Tioga county enlisted and served in the war. 

The first man killed from Tioga county was George Cook, of Coving- 
ton, from whom the Grand Army Post in Wellsboro is named. Wil- 
liam B. VanHorn was one of the first who gave his life to his country. 

The first battle really won in this great war was the Battle of Drains- 
ville, in which the Tioga men in the " Old Bucktails " took the lead, and 
in which Colonel Niles was wounded. In every important and decisive 
battle of the war the citizens of Tioga county figured and were repre- 
sented to the honor and credit and glory of this old county of ours. 

I give these names and have risked worrying you because they were 
your comrades, your fathers and grandfathers ; the people whose names 
you bear, whose glory and whose honor you share, and whose luster to- 
day shines in a bright halo about your brows. 

While these men whom I have named and the many others whom 
time will not permit me to name fought the battles of the Republic in 
the War of the RebelHon, Captain Ralph Gamble and a company of 
men from Tioga county served in the Spanish-American war, and Lieu- 
tenant Carl Young and others held up the standard of Tioga county fight- 
ing the dusky followers of Aguinaldo in the murky swamps and muddy 
lagoons of the far away Phillipines. 

There were 2,000 regiments in the Union Army. Of the forty-five 
regiments which lost over two hundred men killed and mortally wounded 
in battle, Pennsylvania had eleven— nearly one-fourth the entire num- 
ber. No other State had over six regiments in this list. One of those 
was the 45th Pennsylvania, which lost in battle 227 men. No State lost 
so many as Pennsylvania. At Cold Harbor the 45th Pennsylvania lost 
57.4 per cent, of the number that went into that battle, killed and mor- 
tally wounded. Comparing this great loss with the loss of the Light 
Brigade at Balaklava, which was only 36.7 per cent, we can realize the 
desperation of the Civil war. The loss of the Light Brigade has been 
made famous in song and story in every land. 

We come now to point out the fact established by history, that the 45th 
Pennsylvania Volunteers largely composed of Tioga county men, com- 
manded by Tioga county officers, met with a greater percentage of loss 
in killed and mortally wounded at Cold Harbor, than did the Light Bri- 
gade in its famous charge at Balaklava. There is no poet to sing of the 
45th. No historian weaves a romantic page of its great battle. It is 
left for us to do it here in their own home, surrounded by the survivors 
of this regiment and their children. But let us not forget that in this 
presence on the centennial of our old county we can truthfully say that 
no better fighters ever stood in battle, since the history of the world be- 



THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 45 

gan and since the morning stars sang together, than the farmers of 
Tioga county when confronted by our Nation's foe. The heaviest loss 
to any one regiment in the German army during the Franco - German 
war was in the 16th Infantry at Mars LaTour where it lost 49.4 per cent. 
We can with truth sing the praises of Tioga county men and 
Tioga county women. The women were as brave and as patriotic 
as the men, and in all battles, civil as well as military, Tioga 
county people have been found, and they have lacked neither capacity 
nor courage. Our people have stood in the fiercest storm of battle, firm 
and steadfast. They have sat in the seats of the mighty. They have 
sat in the highest courts of the land and in the highest legislative bodies. 
They command the highest remuneration as lawyers, doctors and teach- 
ers. Recently one of your sons has won distinction as a journalist in our 
state. By his ability and energy he has pushed his paper to the front 
until to-day the North American is a power and an influence in jour- 
nalism that all concede. 

The Chief Justice in the highest court in the great state of Wisconsin 
laid his foundation of legal knowledge in studying the principles laid 
down by Lord Chancellor Eldon, by the light of the pine torch in Tioga 
county. 

The man who moulds and shapes the legal destiny of one of the great- 
est corporations and receives one of the largest salaries paid a lawyer, 
was born in the hills of Charleston township and began his practice and 
won his spurs in trying cases in the old court house across "the Green." 
To-day one of your citizens, as President of a great financial asso- 
ciation in the western metropolis of our state, receives a higher salary 
than was ever paid a Tioga county man in a business position. In fact 
few in a similar position receive a higher salary anywhere. 

And our women have not been behind in the race. Josephine Kim- 
bal has won distinction as a missionary and teacher in India. Mary 
Baldwin and Frances M. Wright have become great physicians. Myra 
Reynolds to-day is one of the best equipped, best informed and best 
educated women in this country. Eleanor Larrison has become a great 
teacher. Ada Cone writes for the leading magazines and periodicals of 
the world, while in the far northwest, Alaska, Anna Kelsey is every- 
where hailed as the Mother of Education in that land of ice and snow. 

Why should we not be proud of them ? They only demonstrate that 
these hills and valleys and mountains are not limitations to our people, 
but environments that stimulate ambition and capacity and strengthen 
and prepare our sons and daughters to go forth and fight and win the 
world's battles. 

I like a man who loves his home better than any other home. Who 
loves his wife better than any other man's wife. Who loves his chil- 
dren, his country, his state and his county. I love the people of Tioga 
county became they love their county. God bless Tioga county and her 
loyal, true and steadfast people ! 



46 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

Among the veterans in town on Thursday were Mr. Almond Pitts, 
aged 86, of Company G, of the 45th Pa. Vols., of Whitneyville in Charles- 
ton township, and his son, Mr. William Pitts, of Mansfield, aged 60, of 
Company E, "Old Bucktails. " Probably these veterans are the oldest 
father and son in this county who both served in the Civil war. 

After the meeting in the Auditorium, the rain having ceased, there 
was given on Main street before a very large crowd of spectators a fine 
exhibition of the beautiful Japanese day fireworks, the first of the kind 
ever seen in this county. 

A game of baseball followed in which the Lawrenceville nine defeated 
the Antrim players by a score of 8 to 4. 



THE ''OLD HOME" MEETING. 



The meeting Thursday evening at the Auditorium, corner Pearl street 
and East avenue, was a complete and enjoyable affair. Notwithstand- 
ing the stormy weather by eight o'clock there was a good-sized audience 
assembled. Many ladies were in the audience, which was a brilliant 
scene of color and light. The stage was tastefully decorated, the large 
opening was gracefully festooned with evergreen, while an immense flag 
filled up the rear portion, revealing glimpses of forest scenery, and folds 
of bunting fell gracefully from the top and sides. The Band, in uniforms 
of blue and gold, occupied a dais at the back of the stage, and the bal- 
ance was filled by ladies and gentlemen who took part in the exercises, 
the officers of the Commission, home-comers and invited guests, while 
strong electric lights in colors made this picture glow as if bathed in a 
flood of sunlight. 

WELLSBOROUGH'S MILITARY BAND. 

Bandmaster— Frank A. Deans. 

Clarinets— Peter Fischler, Peter R. Fullwood, Charles E. FuUwood, 
Robert A. Mitchell, Byron L. Jackson, Thomas L. Gartland, Henry I. 
Wilson. 

Cornets— William S. Woodhouse, Jay C. Briggs, Harry Fischler, 
Harry Padgett, Irvin A. Focht, Edward Fischler, Jesse Sticklin. 

Saxophones — John B. Kerwin, Charles Wilson. 

Altophones— Charles L. Babcock, William S. Mitchell, Evan P. Rees, 
Charles C. Johnson. 

Trombones— Leon Klock, Nicholas Warren, Harry B. Kimball, Charles 
A. Focht, Peter L. Abrams, Thomas Prethero, Wallace Etner. 

Baritone— Bert E. Francis. 

Euphonium — Benjamin L. Davis. 

Basses — August Petit, David L. Williams, Jr., Ennis Jackson, Louis 
Herrington. 

Drums— Robert R. Cunningham, Leroy Sears. 

Porter— Arthur English. 

THE CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS. 

George W. Merrick was selected by the Committee to preside and he 
made the following opening remarks. 

This meeting will partake of two elements, one relating to the sol- 
dier element, this being Military Day, and the other that of the early 
times and men, the spirit of good cheer and fellowship toward the home- 
comers, who have returned to renew the memories of ' ' Auld Lang Sine. ' ' 
The prevaling spirit one of love and reverence for those whose lives and 



48 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

labors laid the foundations of the States and those who defended it from 
the attacks of its enemies. 

The settlers laid the foundation. Their's were the days of poverty 
hardship, brave endurance. Our's the reward of their faithful toil and 
unselfish sacrifices. Their's the days of small beginnings, the wilderness, 
the rude and the primitive life on every hand. Ours to reap where they 
sowed, to enjoy the light of science unknown to them, the labor-saving 
aids of invention, the manifold endless helps to living, better laws, the 
church and the schools. 

Here upon this platform we see on the one hand the powder-horn of 
the pioneer and his long, smooth-bore, flint-lock rifle of the past. On 
the other hand a stand of Springfield muzzle-loading muskets of the 
Civil war time, and here occupying this room and platform is the living, 
breathing, speaking present, looking back upon the past of an hundred 
years. 

At first glance, to us who are more accustomed to looking forward, it 
seems like a far cry or a far look backward to the days of the first set- 
tlers. But is it a far look ? 

Out on the Charleston hills lives a hale and hearty old man, Holman 
Morgan, whose life spans that of Tioga county, and has three years to 
spare. He is 103. Go back of his birth but twenty-six years and you 
have the beginning of our struggle for national life. It is but a span ; 
not the remote, but the near past. It behooves us, therefore, not to boast 
as one who lays his armor off, but let us hope, basing our lives upon the 
worth, high ideals and noble purposes of our ancestors, that we may put 
our armor on, with confidence. 

But to return to the present. This meeting, it may be observed, will 
differ materially in its character from the other public meetings of the 
week where you listened to single, formal, elaborate orations, and original 
poems written for the occasion ; but this meeting will be in lighter vein, 
and consist of a variety of short speeches interspersed with music. It is 
everybody's meeting, but the talks must necessarily be short, and then I 
shall not be able, I fear, to introduce to you all whom I wish you to 
hear. A few words only, a sentiment, a song, perhaps, a story— and an 
old story will past current, for we are met to celebrate ' ' ye old and 
ancient time " in five-minute speeches. 

This will be a hard condition to many of the eloquent gentlemen who 
sit upon this platform, who can talk and who love to talk, but we must 
hold to the time limit — unless indeed the eloquence of these gentlemen 
shall obliterate time altogether. 

I now introduce to your favorable notice Arthur M. Roy, Secretary of 
Centennial Commission, who will extend to you some words of welcome. 

MR. ROY'S ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 

Ladies and gentlemen : The pleasant privilege has been assigned 
me to welcome home those who have come from all quarters to revisit 



THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. ^ 

the scenes of their birth and early manhood and womanhood — to renew 
their youth — and to join with us in celebrating our centennial. I suppose 
that I have been asked to bid you welcome because I am one of the na- 
tives of Tioga county who took root at home and having for half a cen- 
tury been grounded in my native town I am entitled in a measure to ex- 
tend the hand in cordial greeting and good fellowship and say to you in 
behalf of the Centennial Commission and the people of Tioga county and 
the county seat that we are glad to see you. 

We are happy to welcome you home to participate with us in com- 
memorating the rounding out of one hundred years of our county history. 
We all know the story of the noble band of early pioneers who endured 
the hardships of the wilderness here in the first years of the century 
and planted seeds from which have sprung our thrift and high standing 
as a county in this great Keystone State. We have to remember many 
sons and daughters who have helped to make up our local history — those 
who came after the pioneers. Every township and borough has its roll 
of honored names, and its review shows that all have contributed to 
the building up of this glorious record of an hundred years. 

But this is our ' ' old home meeting. " It is your home coming. Our 
welcome here is more tender than the mere expression that we are glad 
to see you. When a child returns home after long absence the greeting 
is warmer and the heart thrills differently than when a friend or mere 
acquaintance drops in. You are members of our own family. Our greet- 
ing to you to-night is such as the parent gives to a child who returns 
home. It is hearty and loving. 

We who have remained in the old county have watched your careers 
all these years with much pride. Very few are the times when we have 
had reason to blush for a Tioga county boy or girl making their way in 
the wide world. We have rejoiced to see so many — and it is a remark- 
able number— rise to high and honorable positions, winning distinction 
on the bench and at the bar, in legislative halls, in the army and navy, in 
commercial pursuits, in music, medicine, literature, art, science, in the 
pulpit, as teachers and in all the walks of Hfe. And we must not forget 
that some of our daughters have reached quite as great distinction and 
honor for their ability as any of our sons. 

We have watched you climb the ladder of fame, and it has been a 
great pleasure and satisfaction for us here at home to record and com- 
mend your achievements. It has been remarked before, and there really 
seems to be some ground for the assertion, that the altitude of Tioga 
county, the atmosphere, the rugged mountains, and it may be the sturdy 
stock of our pioneers, or perhaps all together, have lent their influence 
to the breeding of strong men and women with sturdy bodies, clear 
heads and temperaments which make them active and aggressive in the 
world — ready to battle and to win against odds. Certainly none here 
will deny that Tioga county children possess elements of mind and 
character which enable them to rise to the top and stay there. 



50 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

Tioga county has had a wonderful history during these one hundred 
years. Its material development has not, perhaps, reached that of some 
other counties more favored for commerce in our great Commonwealth ; 
but in patriotism, virtue, energy and fraternal love and all that makes 
good citizenship we have kept pace with any other county in the Union. 
Our sons and daughters rank with any others from anywhere. We are 
glad that so many wandering feet have turned homeward for this anni- 
versary, to gather around the fireside this evening for a good time. I 
give you all a most affectionate greeting to "the old home ! " 

Chairman : It affords me pleasure to introduce Hon. Hosea H. Rock- 
well, of Elmira, New York, but born within the limits of Tioga county, 
at Lawrenceville. I think you would like to hear whether he prefers 
fishing in the clear waters of the Cowanesque in the forties to fishing in 
the muddy, political waters of the Chemung in the nineties. 

REMARKS OF HOSEA H. ROCKWELL. 

I am not much of a fisherman and never was. I am told it takes a 
very lazy man to make a successful fisherman and that the Wellsboro 
lawyers are very successful in that line. I learned early in life that it 
was easier to catch fish with a silver hook— i. e. to buy them, than to 
spend my time with a hook and line. This method has, I believe— 
although I cannot speak from experience — been applied to fishing for 
votes, and I am told further that it has become a usual method here in 
Tioga county. 

Speaking of fishing for votes I am reminded of an incident : One 
Decoration Day, a good many years ago, after I had turned out with the 
boys to honor the patriot dead, I dropped into the office of a friend who 
has since become known as a statesman of great and national reputation. 
I still had on my Grand Army blouse and hat and my friend said to me : 
" Rockwell, aren't you getting pretty old for this sort of thing ? What 
are you up to, anyhow — fishing for votes?" As I looked at him, I saw on 
his watch guard the skull and cross bones of a college society. Pointing 
to my Grand Army button, I said : " You are very proud of your skull 
and cross bones for what it represents. I am equally proud of this but- 
ton. It is the emblem of my alumni association. I graduated in the 
greatest university the world ever saw. At its head was President 
Abraham Lincoln. Among its professors were Grant, Sherman, Sheri- 
dan, Thomas, Summer, Logan, Slocum and a hundred others whose names 
are written high on the roll of fame. We were graduated in the spring 
of 1865, the largest class that was ever graduated. It took two days to 
complete the graduation ceremony. On the first day came the old Army 
of the Potomac who had pursued their studies from Bull Run to Appo- 
mottax, and they passed in review before the President of the United 
States and his Cabinet. All day long they filed down Pennsylvania 
Avenue in Washington and then received their diplomas and went out 
in the world. The next day came the hosts who had marched with Sher- 



THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 51 

man to the sea and up through the Carolinas and Virginia to join in these 
great commencement exercises. They, too, received their diplomas and 
went out into the world. Do you know what has become of them ? Do 
you know that the members of our class are filling the most responsible 
positions in this country ? One of them is President of the United 
States, a dozen of them are members of the United States Senate and 
more than a score of the House of Representatives. They are filling 
positions as governors, and you will find them in every state legislature. 
They are managing our railroads and our great commercial enterprises. 
They are influential in Wall Street. You will find hundreds of them on 
the bench, at the bar, in the pulpit and in the universities of this 
country. They are at the front in every great enterprise. What does 
your skull and cross bones represent beside this little badge ? Those 
men left behind them a hundred thousand comrades equally strong, 
equally brave, and who sacrificed their lives that the country might 
live. I have been out to-day to honor their memory, and so long as God 
shall spare my life, I shall continue every returning season to aid in 
strewing their graves with flowers, with the assurance that when I shall 
have gone my surviving comrades will continue to do the same by me, so 
long as the Nation shall live and the old flag shall continue to wave over 
a united republic." 

This gathering has been called a " camp fire," and to me a camp fire 
means a gathering of old comrades of the War of the Rebellion. I see 
before me to-night a large number of those comrades. To them let me 
quote some lines by one of our distinguished poets : 

" Comrades, the circle narrows, heads grow white. 
As once again around the camp fire's circling light 
We gather and clasp hands as we have done 
These many, many years. 

So long ago it seems, so long ago ; 
All, all have passed the terror and the splendor ; 
Have changed like yester' even's stormy glow. 
Into a sunset memory, strange, yet tender." 

I thank you, Mr. Chairman, and managers of this Centennial for the 
opportunity you have given me to meet and address the citizens of my 
native county. I have been having the time of my life. I have met old 
friends and made new ones. I have talked politics with Dave Cameron ; 
law with Frank Watrous ; farming with Will Mather ; religion with 
Horace Packer ; war with Colonel Wood ; reform with Major Merrick and 
prohibition with Landlord Coles. I have dined with Mrs. Channell ; drank 
lemonade with Mrs. Stone ; smoked the Governor's cigars ; swapped lies 
with Senator Foote ; enjoyed everything and done everything but spend 
my own money. 

I shall remember this occasion and ever bear in affectionate remem- 
brance old Tioga and her generous citizens, and I hereby extend the 



52 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

Irishman's invitation : "If you come within twenty miles of me, don't 
fail to stop, and stay all night." 

REMARKS OF SIMON B. ELLIOTT. 

It is my purpose to say something about the men of whom I knew in 
my boyhood days, some sixty odd years ago — men who had much to 
do in shaping the character and destinies of this county. I refer to the 
ministers, the office-holders and politicians and the lawyers. 

In those early days there were but few church edifices. I remem- 
ber only five. The preaching was done mostly in school houses. 
Sometimes notices would be sent several weeks ahead, but generally the 
preacher would come along in the afternoon when the schools were in 
session and leave word at the school house that there would be preach- 
ing there that evening, and the scholars would spread the news, and 
nearly everybody would turn out. After service the preacher would 
stay all night with some one of the many who would invite him, or 
remain where he had stopped for supper, and he was quite as apt to 
select a sinner as a saint to abide with, and in all cases he was a wel- 
come guest. I do not know how these good men were paid. In fact, I 
do not know that they ever got anything but the proverbial yellow-leg- 
ged chicken. 

Their piety could not be questioned, and they were orthodox to the 
core. No "higher criticism" touched their pious souls. No epitaph, 
like that suggested for the Lord High Chancellor of England, Baron 
Westbury, would fit their case. The Westbury epitaph was suggested be- 
cause he had, in the case of a trial for heresy, which came up before him 
from some ecclesiastical court, decided in favor of the heretic ; whereupon 
a cynic wrote an epitaph which stated, that, although an upright judge 
and Christian gentleman, "he had dismissed Hell with costs and taken 
from the orthodox members of the Church of England their last remain- 
ing hope of eternal damnation." No, Mr. Chairman ; nothing could be 
said of their religious standing. They believed in Hades, and sometimes 
it would look fairly blue around the school-house for a week or so after 
a "good sermon." They did not hesitate to send a sinner to perdition 
in the abstract, but when it came to personal consideration, they would 
not send one to Hell for all eternity. No ; nor for ninety days, even. 
Yet when there came a clear case of wrong-doing they did not hesitate 
to say, like Nathan of old, to the sinful David, "Thou art the man." 
But, for all this, some of them were quite Hberal in their views. I 
remember one came to our house when I was about twelve years old. 
He asked me if I ever read the Bible, and my mother proudly answered 
that I was then reading it through. He wanted to know how far I had 
got and I replied, " To Kings." " Well," he asked, "do you believe all 
you have read thus far ?" Of course, I did not dare give any other than 
an affirmative answer. He quickly said to me, " When you come to the 
book of Jonah, skip that. You will be better qualified to wrestle with 



THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 53 

that book after you have heard the big fish stories of your neighbors 
and acquaintances, and when you do read it, it will not make a straw's 
difference whether you believe that the whale swallowed Jonah, or Jonah 
swallowed the whale. ' ' 

They were not conceited. They didn't claim to know it all. I remem- 
ber a case where an over-ardent admirer of one preacher claimed that 
the preacher was a wonderfully learned man— knew a great deal. When 
the good dominie heard of it, he said that " if that or any other person 
thought him very wise, such would be quickly convinced he did not know 
much by talking with him for a few minutes." He then told a story to 
illustrate his own lack of knowledge, and, Mr. Chairman, although you 
did not interdict "chestnuts" in the speeches of the evening, I crave 
the privilege of telling this one, which I confess to be not less than sixty 
years old, and this is it : An Irishman said to another, ' ' Phwat did yez 
strike Casey for?" " Sor, the dirty blackguard said that phwat I did 
not know would fill a volume." "Did yez make him apologize?" "I 
did that ; I made him admit that phwat I did not know would fill several 
large libraries wid great big volumes." 

The ministers were good men. They served the Master faithfully, 
and had very much to do in forming the moral and religious character of 
the people of the county. 

As I recollect it the poHticians and oflftce-holders were very much in 
evidence fifty or sixty years ago, and it is generally conceded that their 
love of power and office has not departed from their fraternity. Even 
then, as now, it has been said that when a male child was bom in Tioga 
county, his ruling passion was to get an office, and that as soon as he 
could get on his feet he went out in search of it, and generally found it. 
If there were none to be had at home he went out of the county, and even 
the state, and gratified his ambition. No office ever went unfilled where 
he wasx They were practical politicians and enjoyed that reputation at 
home and abroad. I will relate an incident to demonstrate that: Away 
back in the seventies I had occasion to visit Pittsburg. Ex-Governor Stone 
had gone there to live and get another ofiice, and, of course, I called on 
him as an old friend and acquaintance. To do me honor he took me 
around and introduced me to several prominent gentlemen, among whom 
was Judge Sterrett, afterwards Chief Justice of the State Supreme 
Court. On hearing my name the Judge remarked, ' ' Yes, yes ; I have 
heard that name before, but my memory is at fault just now, and may I 
ask what office you hold?" On answering him that I held no political 
oflRce he seemed surprised and dazed. Stone went to his relief by tell- 
him what office I had held and that I was then General Manager of the 
Blossburg Coal Company. " Ah !" exclaimed the Judge, "I knew, sir, 
there must be something of that sort, for no Tioga county man has ever 
lived to your age without holding some office or post of honor and profit. " 
They were great stayers in office, too. Israel Merrick was Commis- 
sioner's Clerk for twenty-one years and was then elected Commissioner. 



54 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

John F. Donaldson held the office of Prothonotary for more than thirty 
years, and would, no doubt, have held it to the close of his life had not 
the people desired to reward General Robert C. Cox for his bravery and 
patriotism, whose achievements ex-Gov. Stone so eloquently related this 
afternoon. For aught I know, the people in the outlying townships are 
still voting for Mr. Donaldson, just as it is said the Democrats down in 
Berks county are still voting for General Jackson. Of course, none but 
good men could hold office so long. 

Lastly, I come to the lawyers. There were not many of them, and I 
am sorry I have not time to tell their names and recount their individual 
virtues. I remember them as intelligent gentlemen, faithful to their 
clients, but not forgetting their responsibilities to the court and the com- 
munity nor unheedful of the amenities of their professional and private 
life. I then thought them very able men and I know now that they were 
so. I believe they always tried to do the right thing. It is not my pur- 
pose to draw comparisons. I am only going to state what I am confi- 
dent was a fact, and if you want comparisons drawn between then and 
now you must do that for yourselves. I will only state that I am fully 
of the opinion that nearly, if not all, the members of that bar, actually 
believed one-half of what they told the Court and not less than one-third 
they said to the jury, and was not that wonderful ? 

In closing I must say that of all such as I have spoken of collectively 
were, individually, good men, and they molded and directed the character 
of the people of this county who have made it so famous, and we should 
cherish their memory. It can be said of them what Mark Anthony said 
of Brutus, when he found him where he had run upon his sword in his 
his tent at the battle of PhiUippi : — 

" His life was gentle, and the elements 

So mixed in him that Nature might stand up 

And say to the world, ' This was a man.' " 

Mr. Almon Wetmore, of Wellsboro, sang "The New Country-ee," 
one of the old songs he used to hear his father, a Tioga county pioneer, 
sing years ago when the children sat about the old fire-place. 

Mr. Lemuel Smart, a veteran of the Civil War, read the poem, " We 
Drank from the Same Canteen." 

The Chairman introduced Rev. John O'Toole, pastor of St. Peter's 
Roman Catholic Church, of Wellsboro, whose parish includes all of Tioga 
county. 

REMARKS OF FATHER JOHN O 'TOOLE. 

" I shall pass through this world but once. Any good thing that I 
can do, or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it 
now. Let me not defer it or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way 
again. * ' — Drummond. 

Gathered here this evening celebrating the centennial of Tioga county 



THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 55 

and renewing old friendships, I feel this poetic quotation will be very 
fitting : 

" And, oh ! where my lot is cast. 

Where'er my footsteps roam. 
If those I love are near to me. 

That place I call my home." 

Home, sweet home ! We make home just what is good or bad. I'll 
be brief in telling you how. You'll readily admit that the life of every 
man and woman has this purpose and consequent duties, but some people 
are content to merely exist and not to live in the best sense of the term. 

To live is to be an active force in the world's destiny and whether 
one be a great or an humble factor in what his time accomplishes, a fac- 
tor he must be to fulfill the purpose of his being. 

It has been truly and wisely said that anyone only truly lives whose 
life means something accomplished and something in course of accom- 
plishment. 

Let us now turn the searchlight on our own lives, and see how they 
conform to the life just described. We were not here when this county 
was incorporated 100 years ago ; we shall not be here when this county 
will be celebrating its bi-centennial ; we'll be dead. It is my wish and 
prayer that we shall just change homes— leaving this earthly one to en- 
ter the heavenly one. Good night ; again, good night. 

REMARKS OF FREDERICK W. FLEITZ. 

" Breathes there a man with soul so dead 
Who never to himself hath said. 

This is my own, my native land. 
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned 
As home his footsteps he hath turned 

From wandering on a foreign strand ? 
If such there breathe, go, mark him well. 
For him do minstrel raptures swell ; 
The wretch, concentered all in self. 
Living, shall forfeit fair renown. 
And, doubly dying shall go down 
To the vile dust from whence he sprung, 
Unwept, unhonored and unsung." 

Friends and neighbors : We have the proud consciousness that if 
the sun shines on such a miscreant, that he was not bom and raised 
among the fertile valleys of old Tioga. The splendid outpouring of our 
stalwart sons and fair daughters, the home-coming of the many wan- 
derers, the untiring and excellent work of the committee having charge 
of this one hundredth anniversary of our birth, all testify louder than 
words of mine to the devotion and the loyalty and patriotism of our peo- 
ple. 

As I listened this afternoon to the eloquent words of my distinguished 
friend, Governor Stone, as he narrated the noble and inspiring deeds of 



56 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

Tioga's soldiery on the bloody field of battle, I was filled with pride that 
I, too, shared in their glory and had their noble example as a heritage. 
And when I thought of the resources of this county and all the natural 
advantages it enjoys, its picturesque hills, its fertile fields, its dashing 
mountain streams, and the many varied forms of beauty to delight the 
eye and satisfy the soul, I could understand how men would be willing to 
leave their peaceful homes and loved ones to go out to fight and if need 
be, die for such a county. What we call patriotism or love of country in 
the abstract resolves itself in the last analysis to love of home and family. 
Bosoms swell and eyes fill with tears at the sound of the melody ' ' My 
Country, 'Tis of Thee," but in the mind's eye at that moment is a picture 
of the hearer's home, with the loved ones clustered about the door steps, 
the vines running over the porch and the old mother standing in the open 
door. So I think it is the natural thing that men born and bred in this 
county should be as patriotic and brave as the records show them to have 
been. It is a glorious thing to fight for a home, but it takes a tremendous 
amount of enthusiasm to induce a man to fight for a boarding house. 

There are a great many wanderers here to-night — those who have 
gone out from the sheltering roof tree of the old county to test their 
mettle in the sharp conflict and competition of the great world outside. 
None of us wanted to go. We went because there was not room for us 
here. Another thing which contributed largely to our going was the 
fact that there was not offices enough in this county for us all. I think 
if there is one thing needed to make this county a paradise, it would be 
to arrange it so that every male citizen between the age of twenty-one 
and one hundred and four could hold office of some kind. Until that is 
done this county will labor under a serious handicap and must expect to 
lose from time to time some of her brightest and most ambitious sons. 
This trait is recognized among politicians of the state, and down in my 
county the other day when some of the politicians consulted me about 
the candidacy of a former resident of Wellsboro for an office, and I 
assured them that I was in hearty accord with his ambition, they remon- 
strated, saying he had never taken much interest in politics and they 
knew of no particular reason why he should be nominated ; but when I 
demolished that argument with the mere statement that he was born in 
Tioga county, they abandoned the protest and acquiesced cheerfully in 
his nomination with the remark that they did not see how he had escaped 
the contagion so long. But whether a wandering son succeeds or fails in 
the struggle of life, he always cherishes deep down in his heart a wish 
and a hope, which becomes keener and brighter with each succeeding 
year, that in the end before the last day shall dawn, he may be per- 
mitted by a merciful Providence to return again to the home of his child- 
hood, and putting his affairs in shape, prepare to end his life where he 
began, and as he saw the sun of life rise in its rosy eastern sky, so he 
might witness its going down behind your glorious western hills, and 



THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 57 

that his peaceful rest may be in the lap of the same kind mother earth 
that had so often rocked him to a dreamless sleep when a boy. 

Chairman Merrick read with good effect a humorous poem entitled, 
"That Old Fence Rail." 

Mr. James C. Harrington, a Civil War veteran, made a humorous 
speech which may be properly described as an " extravaganza " on his 
own personal heroism as a private, declining proferred promotion for 
notable service, etc. 

Mrs. Kittie Rose Pepper, of Washington, D. C, asked the Chairman 
for three minutes for remarks at this " Old Home Meeting." 

REMARKS OF MRS. KITTIE ROSE PEPPER. 

I speak from an overflowing heart at the meeting of so many friends 
and relatives of my parents and myself. 

It is more than half a century since I was born in Roseville, being the 
youngest daughter of Dr. Joel Rose and Elvira M. Stevens, of Middle- 
bury. My grandparents settled in this county, or what afterwards be- 
came Tioga county, in the beginning of the nineteenth century, and 
helped to bring it out of the wilderness by their sturdy manhood and 
industry. Their sons and daughters— ten on each side -have assisted in 
the work of development until I see before me many of my generation 
enjoying the rich results of happy homes and broad fields filled with the 
wealth of capital and labor. 

I left this county when a child ; have traveled overmuch of the world 
with my husband, Charles M. Pepper, but for nearly twenty years have 
lived in Washington, yet never held office, as many of your honorable 
sons have, who go there from Tioga county. You all know the reason 
why— because I have no vote ! Sisters, our time is coming for that. 

Hon. William A. Stone gives us the roll of honor, both of the living 
and dead, and also said our county sent three times as many men to the 
RebelHon as was required of us. The dear old mothers with soft, white 
hair before me, tell me why we were able to do so. It was their strong 
hearts and willing hands that said, "Go, and help to preserve our union !" 
Tioga county has quite as many honorable women as men. When I 
come again I hope these women will have organized a Tioga County 
Historical Society, with the mother society here in Wellsboro, and 
branches all over the county. I hope this woman's society will own the 
old church and all relics they can gather and put in there, so that our 
next celebration will have something ready. Some of our children will 
be here to say as we have said : " That was my grandfather's picture. 
He was a general in the Rebellion, instead of in the Revolution. 

Chairman Merrick then introduced Hon. Henry M. Foote (whose legal 
residence is in Wellsboro, though practicing law and residing in Wash- 
ington, D. C, winters) as both a soldier and a civilian. Mr. Foote paid 
a glowing tribute to the pioneer women of Tioga county, who helped 



58 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL 

quite as much as the sterner sex to make our history. The speaker told 
some amusing incidents of the war and he indulged in some personal 
reminiscences concerning Major George W. Merrick and ex-Governor 
William A. Stone, who were formerly officers of Mr. Foote's company 
and regiment in the Civil war, and, who, he said, ' ' were conspicuous for 
their bravery there and who since the war have contributed to the honor 
of their profession in this county and state." His address was full of 
wit and his humorous allusions to camp incidents received hearty ap- 
plause. 

The Chairman said that the late George W. Sears, a Tioga county 
poet, whose nom-de-plume as a writer was " Bacchus, "had penned many 
good verses, among them being the poem entitled, " The Potter County 
Volunteer." This poem was excellently given to the audience by Hon. 
Robert K. Young, of Wellsboro. 

REMARKS BY REV. A. C. SHAW, D. D. 

Most heartily do I rejoice in the story of our county, as it has been so 
eloquently narrated to us during these interesting days. I rejoice in the 
courage and patriotism of the hardy pioneers who have turned the wil- 
derness into a delightful place of habitation. With all my soul would I 
exult in the records of its heroes who so nobly wrought, so steadfastly 
endured and in so many cases died that this nation might live. 

What I have to add to what has already been said is to mention a 
name that cannot be omitted from the account of how this region has come 
into its present good estate in morals and citizenship. It is the name of 
one who in the pulpit and out of it proved himself always and everywhere 
every inch a man. I refer to the Rev. J. F. Calkins, for over thirty-five 
years the pastor of the Presbyterian church of this borough, and during 
that time filled temporarily the offices of County Superintendent of Pub- 
lic Schools and Chaplain in the army ; of whom it is not too much to 
say that he has made his life a permanent and imperishable part of all 
that is best in the story and life of the county we have so much reason 
to love. 

Chairman : I have to introduce a gentleman with whom as a boy we 
used to slide down the same cellar door together ; went to school to- 
gether ; studied law together ; enlisted and fought together ; and he 
always bore the larger part of the danger by exposing more of himself 
to the enemy than I could — ex-Governor William A. Stone: 

REMARKS OF WILLIAM A. STONE. 

At this late hour I cannot go into the general history of the war, nor 
the battles I fought. Besides, this camp-fire is not confined to military 
and naval matters, but is local and broad enough in its scope to take in 
Hawky Waterman and his dogs, John Wortendyke and his arbutus, 
Moses Yale and his White Ash cigar, William Redeker and his pound for 



THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 59 

stray cattle, Thomas Allen and his dog, Frankie, and Stephen F. Wilson 
and his remarkable temperance speech which he began by saying : "I'm 
for temperance — drunk or sober. ' ' 

I don't, however, want anybody to think I was not in the Civil war, 
for I was in it. I was a private in Co. A. 187th Regt. Pa., Vols. Our 
Captain was Major George W. Merrick, a brave and capable officer. Our 
first lieutenant was Robert Young, who used to mould plow points in the 
old foundry here. From constant stooping he acquired an angle in his 
back which could never be overcome by constant study of Hardee's Tac- 
tics. But, though he could not master the military tactics, Captain 
Robert Young was a brave soldier and a good man. Lieutenant Morgan 
Hart became a Captain when Captain Merrick was made Major. Cap- 
tain Hart was a splendid officer and a brave soldier, and was much loved 
by the company. Referring to the former speaker and comrade, Mr. 
Stone told a ludicrous incident of camp-fire life in which Mr. Foote fig- 
ured conspicuously. This was taken by the highly amused audience as a 
witty turn on the part of the ex-Governor in getting even with Comrade 
Foote for the ' ' camp-fire ' ' stories he had just told at the expense of the 
speaker. 

The Band, during the exercises, played ' ' Home, Sweet Home, ' ' 
"Auld Lang Sine," "Old Oaken Bucket," "Old Kentucky Home," 
" Dixie," and other familiar pieces, and solos were sung by Mrs. L. R. 
Horton, Mrs. Lloyd Smith and Miss Mary VanValkenburg. The meet- 
ing closed by the audience, led by the Band, rising and singing, "Old 
Hundred, —Praise God from Whom All Blessing Flow." 



THE EXERCISES ON FRIDAY. 



The exercises opened with a concert by Wellsborough's Military Band 
in the pagoda on the pubHc square. 

This was followed at 11 a. m., by a grand civic and industrial parade. 
The procession was formed on East avenue, its right resting on Main 
street and the route was to the foot of Main street and countermarch up 
Main street to Central avenue, out Central avenue to Walnut street and 
down Walnut street to East avenue. The order of the parade was as 
follows : 

Chief Marshals, mounted and wearing red sashes. They were Major 
Charles H. Veil, of Mansfield ; Lewis W. Fenton, of Elkland ; Sheriff 
Edward B. Dorsett, of Wellsboro ; W. H. Hatfield, of Rutland ; Chief -of- 
Police Arch Wilcox, of Wellsboro ; Edward J. Fleitz, of Charleston, and 
W. H. Spaulding, of Wellsboro. 

Wellsborough's Military Band of thirty members in full uniform, led 
by Bandmaster Frank A. Deans. 

Carriages containing members of the Centennial Commission and dis- 
tinguished guests at the celebration. 

Carriages containing five venerable Tioga county citizens who had 
been identified with our history more or less prominently, all being up- 
wards of 80 years of age, some over 90. They were John N. Bache, 
Esq., a life-long resident of Wellsboro ; Messrs. James H. Watrous and 
John Gray, of Wellsboro ; Michael Sheffer, of Liberty and Col. J. L. 
Davenport, aged 85, formerly of Elkland, who came all the way from 
Mitchell, South Dakota, to attend the celebration. Mr. Holman Morgan, 
of Charleston township, who was nearly 103 years of age, was unable 
to be present and ride in the parade, as had been arranged. 

The Jerome Park Band of Elkland, 

Bache Hose Company of Wellsboro. 

Large delegation of the Knights of the Golden Eagle of Galeton, in 
full uniform. 

Float of the Wellsboro Cigar Company. 

Ornamental float of Messrs. Max Bernkopf & Bro., general mer- 
chants, Wellsboro. 

Exhibit of progress in postal transit and delivery, consisting of a 
mounted horseman seated on an old saddle to which post bags of a cen- 
tury ago were attached, the rider was followed by the new R. F. D. 
wagon. 

Gifford & Raish's exhibit of old and new agricultural implements. 



THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 61 

Float bearing exhibit made by F. R. & R. W. Field, dealers in mu- 
sical instruments. It included a small, old piano and a modem one, 
played by a Pianola, operated by Mr. R. W. Field. 

Float exhibiting a mine-car-load of Antrim's peacock coal, illustrating 
processes of mining. 

Exhibit made by F. B. Wetmore, grocer. 

Float drawn by oxen and bearing miniature log cabin built by Jacob 
Westbrook, of Tioga township, representing the old-time church and 
school-house. 

Floats illustrating the century's progress in the process of threshing. 
In this exhibit men threshing with flails were followed by a modem 
threshing machine, the whole exhibit being drawn by a traction engine. 

Extensive exhibit of products of the Wellsboro Carriage Company. 

After the parade came a ball game in which the regular Coudersport 
nine played against a nine composed of Arnot and Morris Run players. 
Coudersport won 7 to 2, the game ending at about 1 : 30 p. m. 

The afternoon began discouragingly with heavy rain, which slackened 
before 2 o'clock. The final commemorative exercises of the celebration 
were held in Bache Auditorium, beginning at 2 :30 p. m. The Wells- 
boro Military Band again contributed music. Hon. Charles Tubbs, Presi- 
dent of the Centennial Commission, presided. In his introductory re- 
marks he said that the weather of the past three celebration-days was 
typical of the history of the county, which recorded storm as well as 
sunshine. 

Hon. A. B. Hitchcock, of Knoxville, read an eloquent centennial 
poem by Mrs. M. N. Edwards, of Westfield, the well-known educator 
^nd temperance advocate. It is as follows : 

Tioga's hills a hundred years ago. 

Covered from foot to crest with kingly pines. 
Or lofty hemlocks looked below 

Upon a tangled wilderness of trees and vines. 
Where Silence, monarch grim, held sway. 

Except when Nature's children of the woods 
Called to each other in fear or harmless play ; 

Or when the storm king o'er those solitudes 
Plashed forth his lightning sword in wrath. 

And, borne on wind-wings, swiftly came. 
Bringing destruction in his path 

And writhing forest giants left aflame. 
Where Cowanesque calmly glides. 

Or broa d Tioga tortuous winds. 
Or Pine creek pierces deep the mountain sides. 

Nor ever rest or quiet finds. 
The fearless trout in many a shaded pool 

Sported at will 'neath osiers rank 
The muskrat, undisturbed, dug, safe and cool. 

His home beneath the shelving bank ; 
The busy beaver's chisel teeth hewed trees 
To form the dam where he might safely build. 
Watched by the lazy, grinning mink at ease. 



62 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

His maw from out the teeming river filled. 
Then came upon the scene the pioneer— 

Of dauntless heart and sturdy frame, 
A conquering- hero he, who knew not fear. 

Save as, perhaps, a shadowy name ; 
A thousand foes he met. but would not yield ; 

And lo, the bloodless victories he won 
Attests full many a peaceful field 

That, fertile, smiles to greet the shining sun. 
A hundred years ! and the great wilderness 

Is decked to-day with waving wheat and tasseled corn. 
With homes, where dwell in peace and happiness 

Those who to this rich heritage are born. 
Where erst the ox team plodded o'er the way. 

Made rough by stones, or road of corduroy. 
The hissing steam cars rush along to-day. 

Or tireless automobiles haste employ. 
And where deep within the mountain's breast 

Nature had hid her treasured stores. 
The toiler, at Labor's high behest. 

Her secret treasure vaults explores. 
But who, in one long day, could tell 

All that for us our sires have wrought ? 
Enough, we know and prize full well 

The heritage so dearly bought ; 
And though no stately marbles mark the ground 

Where their brave deeds were bravely done. 
Yet Honor a memorial has found 

In each true daughter, noble son. 

The chairman then introduced Hon. John B. Cassoday, of the Supreme 
Court of Wisconsin, the speaker of the afternoon, who spent his child- 
hood and youth in Tioga county. He made a most pleasing and finished 
address, the latter part of which especially, disclosed, if only in a slight 
degree, his possession of profound legal scholarship. 

Judge Cassoday said his present situation reminded him of a man who 
dreamed he was in Heaven, who missed many he had expected to find in 
that blest abode, who found there many he had not expected to find, and 
who was surprised most of all to find himself there. Tioga county, he 
said, as it was fifty or sixty years ago, would always be fresh in his 
memory. He paid ardent tributes to members of the county's bar at 
that time— to Hon. John C. Knox, afterwards on the State Supreme 
Bench, Hon. James Lowrey, Judge Robert G. White, L. P. Williston, 
Josiah Emery, and A. P. Cone, Esq., in whose office the speaker had 
studied law. He eulogized also two early judges. Judge Conyngham and 
Horace Williston. The speaker described vividly a political mass meet- 
ing fifty-seven years ago in our venerable courthouse which he attended 
while a student in the old Wellsboro Academy. He gave also his first 
experience as a grand juror, when, notwithstanding his youth, he was 
drawn by virtue of his being a landholder at Hammond. He was much 
impressed with Judge White's charge, especially as touching upon the 
issues of paper money from State banks, and his services on that jury 



THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 63 

first set his thoughts in the direction of studying law. Forty-seven years 
ago, having completed his law studies in this county, he started West to 
locate for practice. The nearly fifty years intervening since he regarded 
as the most important period thus far in history, as regards develop- 
ment. It has been an epoch of special importance in this country, wit- 
nessing vital amendments to our national constitution. Ever since leav- 
ing Tioga county he has received the Agitator, and so was informed of 
Tioga county's part in the great events of the intervening decades. He 
had been much impressed on being shown by Judge Jerome B. Niles the 
first record of the first trial of record in the county, over which Judge 
John Bannister Gibson presided. He paid an eloquent tribute to the 
late Justice Henry W. Williams of the State Supreme Bench, who for 
twenty years ending in 1887, presided over the Tioga county courts. He 
praised the decisions embodied in his opinions and the clear language in 
which they were expressed, and stated that during fifty-four of the 
ninety-two years since Tioga county was organized for judical purposes 
she has been represented on the State Supreme Bench. In conclusion 
he congratulated his hearers on living under a government of law, un- 
harrassed by the menance of arbitary power, and declared that the be- 
neficent influences of such a government cannot be overestimated, and 
that any individual or organization who shall take arbitrarily from any 
American citizen life, liberty or property is an enemy to our citizenship 
and government. 

Justice Cassoday's address created a profound impression. At its close 
the Chairman pronounced the public commemorative exercises of the 
celebration at an end, but invited everybody to stay for the evening's 
display of fireworks. 

The last baseball game of the celebration came late in the afternoon, 
beginning at 5 p. m. The contestants were the Coudersport nine against 
a picked nine of Tioga county players, and the game resulted 8 to 1 in 
favor of Coudersport. 

The display of fireworks in the evening, which was the closing feature 
of the celebration, and was pronounced by the great throng of spectators 
as the finest ever seen in the county. The public square was surrounded 
with electric lights glowing under the splendid trees and thousands of 
electric bulbs made brilliant the facades of the various shows of the 
Carnival Company and the Ferris wheel was aglow with moving lights. 
The whole effect of the decorations of the public buildings, business 
houses and private residences was gorgeous and the evening illumi- 
nation a scene of wonderful beauty. 

The Jabour Carnival Company justified the committee on amusements 
in engaging them. Their free attractions were good, the bicycle loop- 
the-loop being enthusiastically cheered. The shows were worth the 
admission fees most people declared. At night after the shows were 
closed the town was as quiet as usual. The attaches of the outfit be- 
haved well and there was no disorderly conduct by any of them. Mr. Ja- 
bour, the proprietor, and Mr. Koury, the treasurer, were gentlemen of 
fine manners, and both hold college diplomas of this and the old country. 



THE ANTIQUARIAN EXHIBIT. 



Praise of the Antiquarian Exhibit in St. Paul's historic old church 
building on the comer of Charles and Walnut streets was heard from all 
quarters. Considering the weather and the fact that it was not central- 
ly located, it was very well patronized, over 3,000 ten-cent paid admis- 
sions being recorded. The expenses were necessarily heavy, so that this 
feature was financially just about self-sustaining. 

The Centennial Commission was fortunate in securing Mr. Anton 
Hardt, of Wellsboro, as Superintendent of the Antiquarian Exhibit. He 
devoted several weeks to the work of classifying exhibits before the 
exhibition, and his work was so thorough and systematic that there were 
no losses or breakage of the hundreds of valuable relics loaned for the 
occasion. Mr. Hardt's assistants were Mrs. R. L. VanHorn, patroness ; 
Misses Martha Graves, Edna O'Connor, Mattie Gisin, Winifred Houghton, 
Grace Jackson and Katherine Bailey and Messrs. J. H. Thompson, G. W. 
Gentry, Geo. Mather and Jerome Niles ; night watchman, Mr. Ed. Fisher. 

There were nearly a thousand contributions to this interesting col- 
lection of historic relics. There was a surprisingly large number from 
Wellsboro alone ; but they came from all parts of the county and from 
outside the county. The walls of the old church were covered with por- 
traits of pioneer citizens of the county and many public men who had 
been prominently identified with our history. There were plenty of 
other interesting historic pictures, maps, drawings and tapestry on the 
walls. Notable contributions of portraits, including a number of sil- 
houettes, were from the homes of John N. Bache, Esq., and Mrs. John 
Dickinson. The floor of the old building was filled with large, temporary 
glass showcases, which contained the greatest number of exhibits, while 
on lines above the cases hung many textile exhibits. The interior was 
brightened with a tasteful use of bunting and was provided with ample 
electric lights. 

Tue most valuable and complete collection of relics was that loaned 
by Hon. Charles Tubbs, of Osceola, the President of the Centennial Com- 
mission, who took a personal interest in the antiquarian exhibit from its 
inception. His contributions were of wide range, including many Indian 
relics collected in the Cowanesque valley, almanacs and other pamphlets 
and many domestic antiquities. The Indian relics included many arrow- 
heads, spearheads and stone axes, all arranged carefully according to 
the schedule of the Bureau of American Ethnologists, as used in the 
Smithsonian Institute. His offerings included : 



THE ANTIQUARIAN EXHIBIT. 65 

Part of a Catholic altar service — a candlestick wrought of red pipe- 
stone and a small silver plate. These two articles were discovered in 
1872 about four feet below the surface on the north bank of the Cowan- 
esque, about two miles above Westfield, by some laborers who were ex- 
cavating in preparing the foundation of a sawmill engine. How they 
came where found can only be conjectured. Evidently they were once 
used in celebrating Mass by some self-sacrificing missionary to the 
Indians. 

The Wellsboro Academy's first catalogue dated 1846. 

The first pamphlet published in Tioga county "Abridgment of Eng- 
lish Grammar" by J. Emery, printed in Wellsboro in the office of the 
Phoenix, ancestor of the Agitator. 

The placard call for the first meeting in Wellsboro anent of the Civil 
war, held April 22, 1861. 

Almanacs of 1808 and 1809 complied by John Parkhurst, Jr., of Marl- 
boro, New Hampshire, an ancestor of the late Joel Parkhurst, of Elk- 
land. 

A large show-case contained the large and beautiful contribution of 
Miss Mary B. Robinson, of Wellsboro. Here were displayed most artis- 
tically rich old embroideries, curios, brass-work, Japanese and Chinese 
pottery, necklaces, rich titles from a Damascus mosque, an old Russian 
icon and other selections from her collection of art works made during 
her journeys in Europe, 1892-6 ; also souvenirs of the California trip that 
followed. These latter included beautiful Indian basket-work and an 
especially rare Tulare basket. 

J. H. Putnam, Esq., of Tioga, was a particularly generous contribu- 
tor to the exhibit. His display included : 

A huge sheepskin document of mortgage on a plantation, dated 1775. 

Two interesting photographs of Wellsboro's Main street, taken in 
1871 before the first great fire. 

It is impossible to enumerate all the articles of historic interest dis- 
played in this antiquarian hall ; but those which follow are only sugges- 
tive of the character of this loan exhibit which was never before equal- 
led in the history of Tioga county. 

In such a large and varied display, it is impossible to specify here 
all those noteworthy. But certainly the exhibits mentioned below were 
all of great interest : 

A discharge paper signed by George Washington, discharging honor- 
ably Peter Shumway from the 4th Massachusetts Regiment of the Con- 
tinental Army. This patriot, Peter Shumway, located in this county 
about 1805 near Mansfield, later becoming a pioneer settler in Charles- 
ton. He is the ancestor of the many members of the Shumway family 
in this county. The exhibit was loaned by his great-grandson, Peter E. 
Shumway. 

Fragment of embroidered coat worn by Washington at Valley Forge. 



66 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

Loaned by N. E. Bryant, Crookedcreek ; procured for this exhibit by 
County Commissioner Archer. 

A large, massive German Bible, (Luther's translation, first published 
in 1534.) The book exhibited was probably printed before 1550, when 
the ' ' art preservative ' ' was in its youth, at least as regards European 
civilization. It is owned by the family of the late Hon. C. F. Veil, of 
Wellsboro. 

The big display was wonderfully rich in other old books. Rev. George 
D. Lucas, D. D., pastor of St. Andrew's Roman Catholic church in 
Blossburg, loaned a large, handsomely illuminated Latin service-book 
for the Roman Catholic office of Vespers. Its richly colored leaves are 
of vellum or parchment, and is a product of a patient monk, Joeteph 
Golbas, who wrought it with pen and brush. It bears date, 1765, and is 
a product of the scribe, not the printing press. 

A Bible dated 1619, and beautiful old china. Elizabeth Biggs, Wells- 
boro, owner. 

Two fine globes used in 1829 by Johnson Butts, a schoolmaster in 
Lawrenceville. Loaned by Persis Butts Close, of Nelson. 

Hon. W. E. Champaign's rich collection of stuffed birds and animals. 

The constitution of a temperance society formed in Tioga county in 
1831, bearing the signatures of many signers of the pledge. Loaned by 
Paul Kraise, of Tioga. 

The big collection of Indian relics, war relics and stuffed animals 
loaned by Mr. George Heyler, of Sebring, Liberty township. 

Beautifully chased silver snuffers and tray, at least a century old. 
Loaned by Mrs. R. K. Young, Wellsboro. 

Fine specimens of the silvery "lustre" tableware, the making of 
which is a lost art. Mrs. Gorrie, of Delmar, owner. 

"Lafayette" coverlets inscribed with date, July 4, 1826, the elab- 
orate design which decorates them being commemorative of General 
Lafayette's re-visiting this country, landing in New York in August, 
1824. Loaned by Mrs. F. W. Graves and Mrs. H. S. Smith, Wellsboro. 

A collection of ancient American pottery, gathered by Cecil A. Deane, 
of Denver, while inspecting ruined dwellings in New Mexico. Loaned 
by the collector's sister, Miss Carrie Deane, Wellsboro, who contributed 
also a copy of Dunlap's Pennsylvania Packet, dated July 8, 1776, and 
containing the Declaration of Independence. 

Thomas Putnam's commission as lieutenant dated 1811. Loaned by 
County Commissioner S. O. Putnam. 

Hatchet made by Jacob Kephart, who died in Tioga in 1790. Loaned 
by A. J. Kephart, Wellsboro. 

A contract in writing, dated some eighty years back, for the "clear- 
ing and grubbing" of Pearl street, Wellsboro. Loaned by Mr. Richard 
H. Smith, Wellsboro. 

A toy china tea set of 1818. Loaned by Mrs. John Cowden, Wells- 
boro. 



THE ANTIQUARIAN EXHIBIT. 67 

Very handsome old coffee service and warming pan. Loaned by Mrs, 
L. P. Williston, Wellsboro. 

Samplers loaned by Mrs. G. D. Smith, Wellsboro, J. H. Putnam, 
Esq., Tioga, and others. 

Miss Alice Dickinson loaned from the home of Mrs. John Dickinson, of 
Wellsboro, a handsomely carved oak casket or desk, brought from Eng- 
land about a century ago. She loaned also old books. 

The tools and firearms used by burglars in cracking the Seely bank in 
Osceola in 1885. Loaned by Elmira Police Department. 

Long narrow parchment roll bearing signatures to the pledge of a 
temperance society formed in Wellsboro in 1841. Loaned by Walter 
Sherwood, Esq. 



OUR INDIAN PREDECESSORS. 



BY GEORGE V. SMITH. 



Into the history of every American state and its political division is 
woven the history of the Indian. From time immemorial he had held 
dominion over the soil, and has reared the structure of his primative 
civilization beneath the canopy of the forest primeval. In the history of 
his race America is an old, old continent, antedating even the centuries 
of traditional history which was the pride and glory of those European 
powers, who in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, sent seaward the 
hardiest of their navigators in search of the fanciful gold-strewn land of 
the Indies. The coming of Continental civilization found a people as old 
as its own, and a savage government as rich in traditional grandeur as 
that reared within the mystical shadows of the Middle Ages. 

There is but one American — the Indian. Those who came after and 
wrested from him the hereditary title of his ancient possessions were 
only transplanted foreigners. We are indeed a nation of invaders. The 
indomitable courage of our forefathers, who by virtue of their superior 
strengh threw out the frontiers of civilization, rescued from savagery a 
land early destined to attain foremost rank in wealth and importance. 
The ships which bore to the shores of Virginia a company of English 
adventurers, and to Massachusetts Bay a band of religious exiles, also 
bore to the American Indian a message of conquest and ultimate ruin. 
At first so feeble that it was scarcely divined by the newcomers them- 
selves, it grew in importance and was fostered and nutured by the hos- 
pitality of the very race it was destined to destroy. 

When the wave of conquest broke upon our shores and the first blood 
of the forest son was shed, it marked the beginning of the endless war- 
fare which has characterized the history of the American Indian for 
three centuries. A century in the world's history is but a breath of 
time. Less than three centuries have elapsed since Europeans planted 
upon our shores the beginnings of Western civilization. Yet within that 
time the red man has been humbled ; his ranks have been thinned ; his 
hunting grounds have become the gardens of the nation ; and the burial 
places of his fathers have heen desecrated and forgotten. Across the con- 
tinent from east to west the white sons of Europe have pushed their con- 
quests. As the white man multiplied and extended his dominion, the 
Indian lost his power and influence and his numbers diminished. The 
national decadence of the aboriginal American is well nigh complete. He 
no longer is a formidable opponent to the spread of civilization nor is he 



OUR INDIAN PREDECESSORS. 69 

a material factor to reckon with in times of war. True it is that the 
footprints of civilization are stained with the blood of forest sons. 

As we commemorate the first century of our history it is eminently 
fitting that we should give the Indian a place in our remembrance. 
Though he no longer holds dominion over this soil, nor in the least degree 
identified with our county institutions, yet his passing away has been so 
recent that his memory should be in our minds and tribute to his greatness 
should be upon our lips. His age though rude and barbarous had its 
honors ; his fathers though savage and cruel had their virtues and their 
wisdom. It is our duty to transmit the honors of that age to the remem- 
brance of this ; to recount the virtues and wisdom of those fathers to 
the ears of the sons of this. 

The last tribe of Indians to occupy the territory now embraced within 
the limits of Tioga county was the Seneca. The Seneca constituted the 
most numerous tribe of the great Iroquois Confederacy or Six Nations of 
New York. When the Province of the New Netherlands was colonized 
by the Dutch in the first quarter of the seventeenth century the Iroquois 
were at the zenith of their power as a nation. Their territory extended 
from the Hudson river on the east to Lake Erie on the west ; from the 
St. Lawrence river on the north to the Susquehanna river on the south. 
The wedge of land lying in the present State of Pennsylvania and 
bounded by the east and west branches of the Susquehanna was the 
southern portion of their territory. It was peopled, however, less 
thickly than the portion which lay contiguous to the rich lake region of 
Central New York. 

The Iroquois Confederacy originally comprised the five independent 
tribes known as the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Cayu- 
gas and the Senecas. Of these individual tribes the Mohawks were the 
most powerful, sagacious and brave. Their exploits were known among 
all the savage tribes inhabiting the Atlantic seaboard. The Oneidas were 
the only Six Nation Indians who did not raise their hatchets against the 
colonists in the War of Independence. The Onondagas occupied the cen- 
tral territory of the Confederacy. Onondaga Lake, which lay in the very 
heart of their territory, had been the place of the great council fire of 
the Iroquois from time immemorial. The Senecas exceeded all other tribes 
in the number of their warriors and the extent of territory over which they 
ruled. In the early part of the eighteenth century the Confederacy was 
enlarged by the addition of the Tuscaroras, a less powerful tribe, which 
emigrated from the CaroHnas. The Tuscaroras were assigned territory 
watered by the Delaware and the East branch of the Susquehanna 
which lay in the Province of New York. 

The Iroquois Confederacy was the most powerful league of savages 
known in history. Their influence was felt in every tribe from the At- 
lantic to the Mississippi. The mere mention of their name brought ter- 
ror to the hearts of every nation against whom they warred. Their 
war parties penetrated New England, conquered the less powerful tribes 



70 TIOGA COUNTY CENTEN>aAL. 

of Massachusetts and Connecticut, and annually thereafter levied tribute 
upon them. Following the Susquehanna, Delaware and Ohio rivers, far 
to the south they pushed their conquests to the Gulf of Mexico and 
placed those regions under subjection. 

The theory of their confederacy was not unlike our own system of 
government. Each of the Six Nations were supreme in its sphere. 
When questions arose which concerned the vital interest of the whole 
league each tribe sent representatives to the great council fire at Onon- 
daga to deliberate for the general welfare. Each of the separate 
tribes was m like manner subdivided into families or totems which had 
its chiefs or sachem men. In form their government was a democracy. 
Absolute unanimity prevailed in all their councils. One dissenting vote 
was sufficient to defeat the most important measure. In short, it was a 
government of unanimity not of majority. When we contemplate that 
at the same period of history the Puritans were burning witches at 
Salem and persecuting the Quakers throughout all the Bay Colony, we 
pause in wonder and admiration before the barbarous sons of the forest 
who in their system of government antedated our own democratic insti- 
tutions. 

The wisdom of their orators and the cunning and bravery of their 
warriors finds no parallel in the annals of the American Indian. As a pro- 
gressive thinking race of people the Iroquois were superior to all the 
native races of America. The wisdom which they displayed in resisting the 
inroads of European domination furnishes the highest evidence of their 
power as a nation. They possessed the true art of government coupled 
with a high and heroic love of liberty. They asserted their national inde- 
pendence from first to last and acknowledged defeat only when over- 
whelmingly conquered by a nation of superiors. Throughout nearly two 
centuries of ceaseless warfare they maintained an unexampled excel- 
lence of physical type, supplemented by great personal energy and 
stamina of character. Their religion or superstition was a singular 
system of paganism stripped of its idolati'ous character. Their personal 
character which was ferocious to the highest degree was distinguish- 
able by its virtues. Custom and tradition were their greatest law givers. 
Their tree of knowledge was the signs and seasons and the mutations of 
nature. It may in truth be said that theirs was a barbarism verging to- 
wards civilization. 

History fails to disclose that the land of Tioga was ever the theater 
of great and decisive events in the life of its savage occupants. The 
great chapters of Indian history have never been written. Their chief 
actors died without leaving written memorials of their greatness. The 
remembrance of it, decending to their sons in oral tradition was lost to 
the world when they in turn passed away. That this soil was drenched 
in the blood of savage foes ; that its mountain sides echoed back the war 
cry ; that the burning brand devastated its fields and wigwams, we know 
not. The memory of those dark days lives to us only in imagination. But 



OUR INDIAN PREDECESSORS. 71 

the warriors of the Iroquois who came from the precincts of this terri- 
tory have found a page in the annals of American history and their 
deeds have been recorded. This land whose first century of progress we 
now commemorate occupied an important territorial position in the days 
of its first proprietors. It was the southern frontier of the Iroquois Con- 
federacy and one of the gates of their Province. Through its broad val- 
leys trails led, over which countless war parties moved in their expe- 
ditions against the tribes which lay far to the south. Over them their 
tribute hunters bore the wealth of wampum annually collected from their 
conquered allies. Three such distinct trails led across our territory 
and their exact locations were well known to the pioneers. The great 
Williamson road, the largest and most important of our early pub- 
lic improvements, followed an Indian trail in its course through the 
county. This trail divided at the confluence of the Tioga and Crooked 
creek and ascending the latter crossed the divide to Pine creek from 
whence it led across the central part of the state. A no less important 
trail followed the Cowanesque throughout its entire length. Still another 
trail traversed the western portion of the county from north to south 
and connected the fertile lands of the Senecas with the abundant hunt- 
ing grounds lying contiguous to the West Branch of the Susquehanna. 

Scarcely a century and a quarter has elapsed since savagery passed 
out of the land of Tioga and civilization established its power. The 
pioneer settlers who penetrated these forest wilds, pushed their canoes 
along the bosom of its streams and reared their hearthstones be- 
neath the somber shades of the pine, were fortunate above most frontier 
settlers. The hand of the red man was not raised against them and their 
coming was peaceful and undisputed. 

The War of the Revolution, which in establishing the permanent 
emancipation of the colonists from European tyranny, had in like meas- 
ure curbed the power of the Iroquois Confederacy. Under the leadership 
of the Tory Johnsons and the Butlers and the Indian chiefs, Brant and 
Little Beard, the savages had devasted the New York and Pennsylvania 
frontier and dyed the waters of the Susquehanna and Delaware rivers 
with the blood of pioneers. To humble the Iroquois and if possible to 
destroy the alliance between the Indians and the Tories, Gen. Sullivan 
was dispatched in the summer of 1779 upon the most important and 
memorable Indian campaign known in history. To penetrate an un- 
broken forest, to seek out and give battle to a savage foe who was 
known to be massed in numbers in the fastness of his native wilds, was 
a military expedition at once hazardous and difficult. ~ 

The invading army rendezvoused at Tioga Point, the present site of 
Athens, in August 1779. Pushing up the broad and fertile valleys of the 
Chemung, which then bore the ancient Indian name of Tioga, they en- 
countered the Indians and Tories strongly entrenched upon an eminence 
overlooking the valley in either direction. The action which followed is 
known in history as the battle of Newtown Creek. It was the first and 



II 



72 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

■"ast united stand of the enemy and resulted in their complete defeat 
and utter humiliation. 

The ultimate object of the Sullivan campaign was the destruction of 
the villages and cultivated fields of the Iroquois which lay in the rich 
valleys and along the lake shores of Central New York. While the life 
of most aboriginal people is dependent almost wholly for subsistence 
upon fishing and the chase, and agriculture occupies only a small place in 
their domestic affairs, the Iroquois afford us an example to the contrary. 
They were the most advanced agriculturists of all primitive American 
races. In the rich bottom lands of Central New York they cultivated fields 
of corn, beans, and other staple products. They likewise maintained fruit- 
ful orchards, the cultivation of which earned for them the reputation of 
horticulturists. In the region of their corn fields and orchards they es- 
tablished permanent towns and villages, the most important of which be- 
came the seat of their tribal government. Whilst their fields flourished 
and their villages offered a refuge for their war parties and Tory allies, 
it was impossible for the Colonial frontier to be safe from midnight 
attacks. To carry the war into the very heart of the Indian country 
and to lay waste their crops and destroy their villages and storehouses 
was the direct aim of General Sullivan. That the object of the expedition 
was accomplished is attested by the facts of history. 

After the battle of Newton creek, Sullivan pushed up the valley and 
destroyed every vestige of Indian property which lay in his path. His 
scouting parties penetrated every outlying village, ascended every small 
stream to its source and carried the torch to every habitation. That 
scouting parties penetrated the limits of our county admits of little doubt. 
The Tioga and Cowanesque rivers were large and important streams in 
the early days and the rich valleys through which they discharged their 
waters must have harbored many important villages. 

When Sullivan left the Indian country in the autumn of 1779, his 
campaign had been a decisive military achievement. He had destroyed 
every village and field of the Iroquois from Tioga Point to the head of 
Seneca Lake. The advance of his army, composed largely of frontiers- 
men who knew the metal of their foe, literally pierced the Iroquois Con- 
federacy to the heart. Thenceforward the New York Indians were not 
a formidable factor in the progress of the Revolution. 

The expedition of General Sullivan paved the way for the subsequent 
peace with the Indians which reigned in Northern Pennsylvania. It 
opened the way for the peaceful occupation of the white settlers and 
virtually wrested the power of savagery from the soil. 

The treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1784 following close upon the surrender 
of Yorktown brouffht the Indians under subjection. Thenceforward in 
the annals of American history the theater of Indian warfare moved 
westward and the valley of the Susquehanna and its tributaries were 
henceforth purged of its savage proprietors. Their power and influence 



OUR INDIAN PREDECESSORS. 73 

had vanished and from then on the history of the Iroquois Confederacy 
is one of national decadence and gradual extinction. 

An occasional Indian appeared within our borders and in the remote 
places. The remnant of a once powerful band lingered about the 
sites of their ancient towns and council fires, but the actual occupation of 
the Tioga by the Indians may be said to have antedated the first per- 
manent settlement. The hardy race of pioneers who peopled the land, 
at first sparsely, but later in greater numbers as the richness of the soil 
became known, did not live in constant terror lest the tomahawk of the 
savage would be raised against them. Indians though they were in scat- 
tered numbers, they were savages only in name, not in deed. The 
hatchet of the forest son which in the eighteenth century had been 
defiantly raised against the encroaching European and which at the 
silent hour of midnight had been stained with the blood of women and 
children, had long been buried when the indomitable Strawbridge came 
to the valley of the Cowanesque or the hardy Baker first kindled his 
fire at the confluence of the Tioga and Cowanesque. The Senecas, as a 
whole, had been reduced to mere fragments. The power and influence 
of the tribe had been crushed. Scattered bands and solitary individuals, 
like ghosts of the past, still clung around their former habitations. Their 
ancient power had long since been laid in the grave. As a race they have 
been broken up and the remnant which still exists has wandered far 
away from the land of their former glory and splendor. 

The American Indian has left us no written history. No native his- 
torian has recounted the story of their national existence ; no native 
poet has woven into verse the romantic incidents of their customs and 
traditions. Were we to know it all we would find passages in their his- 
tory which would be curious, some instructive and some which would be 
touching and pathetic in a high degree. The wealth of their tradition, 
the native simplicity of their poetry and song, and the melodious wisdom 
of their orators have adorned no written page. Save for the fragments 
here and there gathered by Europeans, their history is irrevocably 
covered by the ashes of the grave. Antiquity slowly accumulating 
itself through the countless ages of the past has buried the first Ameri- 
can beneath its mold. The sonorous voices of their ancient orators died 
upon the midnight air ; the wisdom of their chiefs left no memorial of 
their greatness ; the native richness of their traditions left no impress 
upon printed book or sculptured tablet. 

Their written history is none, but monuments are many. Everywhere 
scattered through the land may befoundtheevidenceof their former occu- 
pation and the numerical strength of their tribes. The broad and fertile 
valleys of the Tioga and Cowanesque offer a field of unusual richness to 
the antiquarian. The constant erosion of the soil exposes to view the 
buried treasures of the past. This county in the stone age was inhab- 
ited by a numerous people, and the period of their occupation extended 
over centuries. The wealth of its stone implements now resting in the 



74 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

cabinets of our citizens attest to its importance in the period of the 
stone age. 

The Tioga and Cowanesque valleys are especially rich in the variety 
and perfect workmanship of the stone implements found therein. 
Tne Indian was a seeker of the valleys— not a scaler of the mountain 
tops. The wealth of nature which lay about him upon every hand fur- 
nished him with hunting grounds in abundance. The richness of the 
lowlands sheltered a never failing supply of game, and in the cleared 
spaces thereof he cultivated his corn and reared his cone-shaped wigwam. 

Though the last remnant of a noble race of brave people has 
passed away, and their hunting ground has long since been stripped of 
its native beauty, they have left their imprint upon our land and the 
benediction of their names upon our waters. The name of our 
county is of Indian origin and every time that we repeat the name Tioga, 
we recall to mind the poetic beauty of the Indian language. Our place 
names also echo back the sonorous voices of the forest sons. What mem- 
ories of the past cling around the name of Osceola, Tioga and Tia- 
daghton, as well as the ancient titles borne by our only rivers, the Tioga 
and Cowanesque ! 

We may well contrast the present aspect of the county with what it 
was in the age of its savage inhabitants. Then a continuous forest 
overspread the whole landscape, clothing the hillsides with verdure and 
darkening the valleys with its deep shadow and descending to the water's 
edge bending majestically over the margins of the rivers. Amid the 
shades of the forest monarchs the Indian roamed and the echoing moun- 
tain sent back their hunters' shouts. But the red man and the native 
grandeur of his surroundings have long since passed away. Their bark 
canoes have vanished from the bosom of our waters. The solitude of 
the forest is no longer broken by the howling of wild beasts and the ter- 
rorizing warcry of the yet more savage Indian. The suns of a century 
have been dropping their sands into the bosom of eternity and to-day 
we stand in the full enjoyment of an enlightened civilization. The dark- 
ness of the age of savagery has given place to the light of Christian 
civilization. 




JAMES STRAWBRIDGE, 

From the original (unsigned) miniature in the possession of his great grand niece. 
Miss L. Murray Ledyard. Cazenovia, N. Y. 



THE PIONEER OF TIOGA COUNTY. 



BY CHARLES TUBBS. 



[Read before the Tioga County Historical Society, Friday Evening, December 15, 1905,] 



"Pioneer— One who goes before, as into the wilderness preparing 
the way for others to follow." — Webster. 

Tioga county was created by legislative enactment March 26th, 1804. 
In that enactment its boundaries were prescribed ; its territory mapped 
off. 

A county, however, does not consist of a certain outlined area of the 
earth's surface alone. If it is a municipal corporation and body politic, 
as well as a geographical division of the state, it must contain inhabitants. 

Inhabitants were on this territory before it became the geographic 
expression indicated by the words, Tioga county. These antecedent people, 
who came before the name was written on the map, were the pioneers. 

What brought them here ? What cause induced them to come into 
the unbroken forests of Tioga county in the last years of the eighteenth 
century ? Why did they come at that particular time ? 

I have never seen these questions discussed in reference to our first 
settlement. It has always been assumed hitherto that people came here 
just to get good lands and out of them to develop homes. That was not 
entirely the case. 

When men of New England and citizens of Missouri flocked into 
Kansas in 1854, the motives that influenced them were first to fight over 
free or slave territory, and second to possess the soil. In our case the 
motives were quite similar. 

The impelling causes that lay at the bottom of the migration hither, 
was both political and agrarian. It grew out of a contest, a conflict, a 
rivalry. It involved the question, " In what state does this territory lie 
and who has a right to dispose of the soil ?" This was true despite the 
Decree of Trenton which assumed to settle it. A controversy, fierce, 
intense and bitter raged between the governments and people of two 
states— Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Both claimed a broad stretch of 
territory across Northern Pennsylvania— the width of one degree of lati- 
tude. 

These conflicting claims grew out of the ignorance or the carelessness 
of King Charles the Second of Great Britain, who granted the charters of 
the colonies out of which these states grew. In 1662 he confirmed to Con- 



76 



TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 



necticut its ancient charter (1) covering its present territory, and (with 
some exceptions) all the lands between the forty-first and forty-second 
degrees of north latitude extending westward to the Pacific ocean. 




Map Showing the Connecticut Claim in Pennsylvania and the Western Reserve io Ohio. 



In 1681, nineteen years later, this same king in the grant of Pennsyl- 
vania to William Penn issued a charter (2) covering a part of the same 
territory. While the Indians occupied the lands this overlapping of 
royal grants disturbed nobody. 

But in 1754 Connecticut purchased the Indian title, and assigned to 
certain of her citizens, known as the Susquehanna company, a specified 
tract. Roughly speaking, this tract was one degree of latitude in width 
and two degrees of longitude in length. It extended along the northern 
boundary line of Pennsylvania a distance of 120 miles. It included 
within its limits most of the county of Bradford, all of Tioga and Potter, 
and McKean as far west as the Tuna Valley. The land oflfice of the 
Connecticut-Susquehanna company plotted this territory into townships 
five miles square, named them, surveyed some of them, and offered them 
for sale. They were subdivided, for the purpose of settlement, into 53 
"shares " of 300 acres each, and these sometimes into half shares. The 
accompanying map (now published for the first time) was draughted 
after a land office copy. (3) It shows Tioga county as it was under the 
Connecticut jurisdiction. 

In October 1784 Pennsylvania also purchased of the Indians (who were 

1. See Charter in Colonial Records of Connecticut. 1665 to 1678. Vol, II, page 3, ct seq. 

2. Original charter is in office of Secretary of the Commonwealth, Harrisburgr. An en- 
graved copy is printed in Pennsylvania Archives, Second Series, Vol. VII, Appendix. 

3. The original map is in manuscript in the library of the Hon. Steuben Jenkins, late of 
Wyoming, Pa., deceased, by whose permission it was copied in his lifetime. He had in- 
herited the manuscript of his grandfather, Hon. John Jenkins, Chief Surveyor of the Con- 
necticut claimants. 



THE PIONEER OF TIOGA COUNTY. 77 

willing to sell as often as they could find purchasers) titles to these lands 
in a treaty at Fort Stanwix, and in May, 1785, she, too, opened an office, 
and offered the same lands for sale. (4) 

The rivalry of these claimants, both to the jurisdiction of the terri- 
tory, and to the ownership of the land, brought the pioneers. I say this 
because the assent given by Connecticut to the Decree of Trenton in 1782, 
was such, that it did not prevent her from subsequently setting up the 
same claim, and obtaining under it, the Western Reserve. As to the Con- 
necticut settlers in Pennsylvania they openly defied it, flouted it, fought it. 
This fight brought the pioneers as soon as they could get here, after 
both parties had perfected their titles. 

Our beginning thus becomes an incident in the stirring drama known 
as the Wyoming Controversy, in which blows were given and taken and 
lives put into jeopardy and lost, instead of merely a prosaic hunt for 
lands. It connects us with a movement, instinct with the life of the 
period, wherein our pioneers were instruments in the hands of the astute 
builders of mighty states. 

Who were they and from whence did they come ? In the space 
allowed I cannot fully answer that question. I will limit the discussion 
to our first settler and the incidents of his settlement. 

I think all our county historians (5) claim this honor for Samuel 
Baker, who settled at the confluence of the Tioga and Cowanesque rivers 
in 1787. In this they follow the authority of Guy H. McMaster in his 
history of Steuben county. New York, published in 1853. (6) Rev. 
David Craft (7) came to the same conclusion from information derived 
from Hon. A. J. McCall, of Bath, N. Y. I have, however, seen reason 
to differ from these authorities, as to whom the actual pioneer was. I 
believe the actual pioneer upon our territory was James Strawbridge of 
Philadelphia, who located at Academy Corners under a Pennsylvania 
title in 1785 and settled thereon in 1786. To substantiate this statement 
will require the production of sufficient and satisfactory authority. 

The office for the sale of lands in the ' ' New Purchase, ' ' as the terri- 
tory acquired under the Treaty at Fort Stanwix was called, was opened 
May 1, 1785, and James Strawbridge obtained several warrants. As 

4. Pennsylvania Archives, First Series, Vol. XI, page 508. 

4. Smith's Laws of Pennsylvania, Vol. II, page 317. 

5. " Old Tioga and Ninety Years of Its Existence," by Maro O. Rolfe, 1877, page 38. 

5. A History of Tioga County, Pa., Published by W. W. Munsell & Company, N. Y.. 
1883, page 29. 

5. History of Tioga County, Published by R. C. Brown & Co., 1897, page 57. 

5. An Outline History of Tioga County, Pa., Published by Gazette Company, Elmira, 
N. Y., 1885, page 37. A variation from this statement was made by John L. Sexton, Jr,, in 
Elmira Gazette Supplement. October, 1874, Article, " Lawrenceville," in which he says : 
" His name was William Holden. He no doubt was the first settler of Tioga County." 

6. History of the Settlement of Steuben County, N. Y., by Guy H. McMaster, Bath, 1853, 
page 29-32. 

7. Chapter " Lawrenceville," in History of Tioea County. Pa., R. C. Brown & Company. 
1897, page 524. 



78 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

there were many applications on file when the office opened, the first 
564 warrants, all dated May 18, 1785, were distributed to the app]ic;,nts 
by lottery. They are still carried on the books of the land office as the 
" Northumberland County Lottery Warrants"* — our territory at that 
time being in Northumberland county. 

Lottery warrant number 451 was drawn by James Strawbridge and 
located by him on the 25th day of June, 1785, at what is now Academy 
Corners. Did he personally accompany the Deputy Surveyor General 
and direct the laying out of this land ? I answer, yes. 

My authority for this statement is the autobiograpliy or memoirs of 
George Strawbridge, a nephew of James Strawbridge, the pioneer. He 
knew his uncle well. At the death of his uncle in 1805, he became 
administrator of his estate, and spent several years in its management. 
Subsequently by inheritance and by purchase he became the owner of 
a large portion of it. 

In 1854, at the age of seventy years, at his home in New Orleans, 
after he had served a term on the Bench of the Supreme Court of Lou- 
isiana, he wrote out for his children these memoirs to which I refer. 
This document descended, to his daughter, Sarah, who caused a copy to 
be made, and deposited in the library of Princeton University, of which 
institution he was a graduate. It is still in manuscript but can be con- 
sulted in the hands of the librarian, and is now used for the first time 
for historical purposes. 

From this document I quote : " Now, it so happened that my father's 
only brother, (James Strawbridge) who had been an officer in Small- 
wood's Maryland brigade had to retire from the army (of the Revo- 
lutionary War) on account of a terrible abscess of the lungs, which 
nearly cost him his life ; he chose on partial recovery the life of the 
woods. The land office of Pennsylvania was recently opened : with 
good guides he penetrated the woods and located a considerable body of 
the choicest lands of Pennsylvania. They lay principally in Tioga county 
on the waters of the Tioga and Cowanesque rivers. ' ' 

"He penetrated the woods!" Let us, before proceeding, try and 
realize the import of these words. As has been stated it was North- 
umberland county. Lycoming county was not ; miuch less Tioga. Even 
the Northern boundary of the state was indeterminate. No path reached 
these wilds except the trail made by the feet of the red men. In all 
directions was the savagery of untamed nature. 

Here were hill, and mountain, and valley. Brawling down from the 
high lands and passing through the glens, came the brooks. The rivers 
of the Tioga and the Cowanesque rushed from their elevated sources, 
the only impediments to their wild, free courses being immense flood- 
woods, piled up in their turns and bends. Vast tracts of land were 
clothed with gigantic pine and hemlock trees. Some spaces were 

♦Report of Secretary of Internal Affairs for 1896, Part I, page 22, A. 



THE PIONEER OF TIOGA COUNTY. 79 

covered with monster oaks, beeches, maples and other deciduous growths. 
Furious tornadoes had ripped wide gaps through these. Some hillsides 
were a mere tangle of interlacing trunks. For ages upon ages this 
land had been a wilderness. 

And it was not uninhabited. Circling high in air were hawks and 
eagles ; blinking in the tree tops sat the owls, and crawling on the 
ground were venomous reptiles, of which our pioneer may well beware. 
Painted catamount, striped lynx, and skulking panther slink away from 
his presence into the hills, while herds of giant elk and deer scurry 
hastily out of sight. Lazy bears peer out at him from their windows in 
hollow trees. As the shadows of night fall about him, roving packs of 
wolves salute his ears with their weird howling. Insatiate hunger drives 
these beasts and birds to desperation, and the forest life is a succession 
of bloody tragedies. The hunting rights of the Indians were reserved to 
them in the treaty, and at the time without doubt these extensive wilds 
were peopled or roamed over at will by them, at all times except in the 
depth of winter. 

Who the ' ' good guides ' ' were with whom Strawbridge penetrated 
the woods in 1785 is not known. He was on a land hunting expedition. 
It is certain that Thomas Tucker, appointed Deputy Surveyor General of 
District Number 16, April 28th, of that year, was with him. Proceeding 
on their way up the Cowanesque river they came to the place in Deer- 
field, where Union Academy stood not many years ago. Here they 
found along the river wide, sandy bars, and girdled trees extend- 
ing quite well out toward the present river road, and to the east 
of the road to Chatham. This was an Indian corn field. Aforetime an 
Indian village had stood here. Where the Purple store now stands was 
an ancient Indian mound, seventy feet across, overgrown with trees, 
raised four feet above the level surface of the valley, and from which 
Indian remains were subsequently taken. 

Coming from the depths of the forest into this opening, where the 
sun could strike the earth, it looked pleasant to James Strawbridge. 
Earth, air, sky, water— all were inviting. Here on the 25th day of June, 
1785, Deputy Surveyor General Thomas Tucker, located land warrant 
number 451, consisting of 268 acres, for James Strawbridge. After the 
Enghsh fashion he gave this place a name. He called it "James' 
Choice." No other warrant was located that year in the Cowanesque 
valley in Thomas Tucker's district. 

I am aware that the location of a land warrant does not constitute a 
man a pioneer. Something more is required— settlement, improvement, 
the determination to remain and make it his place of residence. Did 
James Strawbridge fulfill these conditions ? It appears that he did 
from the following statement in his nephew's memoirs : "James Straw- 
bridge settled on his land, cleared some of it, built a house, a barn, and 
was employed about that important matter, a mill. ' ' 



80 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

This is an unequivocal statement of the settlement in immediate con- 
nection with the location of the warrant. The narrative is direct and 
continuous. I think, however, that a reasonable period of time must have 
elapsed between the location of the land warrant and the actual settle- 
ment. The work of exploration precedes home building ; the outfit of 
the land hunter is different from the equipment of the settler. It is not 
reasonable to conclude that immediately upon the location of the land 
warrant that he was prepared to sit down and stay. I am, therefore, of 
the opinion that at the end of the season of land hunting in the woods in 

1785, that he returned to his home in Philadelphia and made the neces- 
sary preparations for his settlement. He arrived at the decision that of 
all the lands he had seen, he preferred "James' Choice" for a home, 
and from which to launch his land speculations. He was a man of 
wealth and outfitted accordingly — slaves, cattle, tools, provisions, mill- 
irons. 

It was a far cry from Philadelphia to the Cowanesque valley in 1785, 
and I will say that it was June, 1786, before he reappeared here. I fix 
the time in June of that year, because it is certain that Thomas Tucker 
was back here in that month. As Deputy Surveyor General he located 
warrants on all the valley land surrounding "James' Choice" for Straw- 
bridge, for his relatives, and for his friends. To my mind the conclusion 
is inevitable that the whole party came out together from Philadelphia in 

1786, as they had done in 1785, and that the building of house and home 
was accomplished in 1786. I regard this also as consistent, under the exist- 
ing circumstances, with a fair interpretation of the language of the 
memoirs above quoted.* 

I might inquire at this point, what corroboration there is, if any, of 
the statement in the memoirs as to the early date of the settlement. 
There is some. I will mention three facts which are more or less con- 
firmatory. 

The commission for running the boundary line between Pennsyl- 
vania and New York began its second year's work at the mouth of the 
Cowanesque river, June 11, 1787. Abner Kelsey, of Newtown, New 
York, was employed by it as a hunter to supply the surveyors with 
game, and accompanied the party through to Lake Erie. He was 
father of Lucy, wife of Nathaniel Seely, an early settler at Osceola. 
Abner Kelsey often told his Seely descendants that while on this 
boundary survey that he visited Strawbridge at his settlement, established 
at what is now Academy Corners, and, among other things, mentioned 
that he found several negro slaves there. (8) As Academy Corners is 
but seventeen miles westerly from the mouth of the Cowanesque river, 

•Note. I am indebted to my former colleague, Hon. Theodore B. Klein, now Deputy 
Secretary of Internal Affairs, for copies of records and surveys in the Land Office at Harris- 
burg. Also to J. Sutton Wall, Esq., Chief Draughtsman and Surveyor, for valuable maps. 

8. Allen Seely, of Osceola, son of Nathaniel, and grandson of Abner Kelsey, aged eighty 
years (1906). is my authority for this statement. 




GEORGE STRAWBRIDGE, 



Cf New Orlfans, Justice Supreme Court of Louisiana. 

Author of the Memoirs. 

From a li hographic portrait, signed, "J. Lion, 184L" 

Original in possession of Mrs. C. S. Fairchild, Cazenovia. N. Y. 



THE PIONEER OF TIOGA COUNTY. 81 

his visit must have been made within a day or two after June 11th, 1787. 

The State Road from ' ' Loyal Sock creek on the West branch of the 
Susquehanna to the Tawanisco (Cowanesque) branch of Tioga and to 
extend up to the one hundred and nine mile stone," as it was described 
in the Le;?islative Act, was surveyed in 1792. The map of this survey is 
on file in I'.e Land Oifice at Harrisburg. Upon it is noted at the site of 
Academy Corners, " Jas. Strawbridge Improvement. " Evidently at 
this time the ' * Improvement ' ' was there, but James Strawbridge was 
not. It shows the settlement, if not the date. 

In 1881, Judge Gaylord G. Colvin wrote out for me some recollections 
of his early life. I have the manuscript in my possession now. Part of 
it was published in 1883, (9) and again a larger section in 1899. (10) It 
states that he settled with his father's family at Academy Corners in 
1809 ; that on the farm adjoining the river there was an old " girdling " 
used as a pasture ; that it was enclosed with a log fence, in the corners 
of which thorn trees six inches in diameter had grown up ; that on the 
south side of the river on lands of James Yamall was a mill race, said 
to have been dug by Strawbridge. There had been a log milk house 
built over a spring (11) on the Knox farm, the remains of which (a few 
logs) were standing when he moved into tlie valley. The appearance in 
the growth of trees, etc., indicated that the improvements had been 
made about twenty-five years previously. 

The surveying of these lands by the Pennsylvania authorities in 1785 
and 1786 aroused the Connecticut people to a high degree of activity. 
The Connecticut-Susquehanna Company h^ld a meeting at Hartford, 
July 13, 1785, (this date is significant) and resolved to support its claim 
to its purchase, protect the settlers under it, a.nd make a gratuity of a 
half share to any able-bodied man, who would come upon the ground 
before the first of October and fight for their possession, if need be. 
The " Half -share men" were to agree to hold down their "pitches" 
for at least three years. (12) 

This offer was published all over New England and many adventurous 
spirits both there, and in the Hudson river towns of New York, accepted 
it. It had its effect. The Susquehanna Company was busy issuing its 
"rights " to townships and to shares, and in having them surveyed. Its 
offers were numerously accepted mainly by younng men, many of whom 
had been soldiers in the Revolutionary War, and in due time the clash 
between these conflicting interests was sure to come. 

The price paid by the Pennsylvania purchaser was eighty cents per 

9. History of Tioga County. Pa., W. W. Munsell & Company, N. Y., 1883, page 342. 

10. Knoxville Courier, May 10, 1899. The only known file of this newspaper was burned 
in the fire that destroyed the office of Charles E. Brugler, the publisher. 

11. The Strawbridge Spring is situated on the South side of the River Road opposite the 
residence of John W. Knox at Academy Corners. In the early years of the nineteenth cen- 
tury it furnished the water supply to a pioneer distillery. The disused log building of this 
distillery remained standing until 1865. 

12. Pennsylvania Archives, Second Series Vol. XVIII, page 106. 



82 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

acre ; the purchasers were speculators, and consequently not numerous. 
On the contrary, the main requirement on the part of Connecticut 
was that its purchaser should possess and occupy. On these terms it 
is easy to see that the preponderance of numbers would be on the Con- 
necticut side. With certificates of ownership in their hands the Con- 
necticut adherents poured into the county and defied the laws of Penn- 
sylvania. 

Into the merits of this old-time controversy it is not my purpose to 
enter. It is enough to say that each party firmly believed itself in the 
right. I am only concerned with the results— with the people brought 
here by it. 

What was the result of this influx of New Englanders upon our 
pioneer at Academy Corners ? What actually befell him when the time 
came is best stated in the language of the memoirs already mentioned : 
" They (the Connecticut settlers) established themselves along the north 
line for a width of some twenty miles, which they held in defiance of the 
laws of Pennsylvania, for more than twenty years. They shot his 
(Strawbridge's) cattle, burned his houses, and would have shot himself 
had he not vacated the country. With the laws on his side he never saw 
his property again. He proved the most persevering enemy they ever 
had, but in vain." (13) 

This description includes all the elements of a frontier raid. In its plain 
statement of facts is set forth a story that rivals the predatory incursions 
of the Highland clans. In it a picture is hung before us. We see a 
small opening in the mighty, primeval forest. Within the cleared space 
stands the settler's cabin ; fenced rudely in, is the inclosure to protect 
his cattle from wild beasts. It is night, for deep darkness only makes fit 
background for the scene. A wild shout : a volley of musketry aimed at 
the domestic animals indicates to the human beings the fate that 
awaits them. They become fugitives. They plunge into the depths of 
the all-surrounding woods and are swallowed up. As they recede, 
fainter become the echoing shouts of the marauders. Anon, the 
heavens are lighted up by the lurid flames of incendiary fires. Look at 

13, Somewhat twisted and contradictory, but on the whole curiously confirmatory of the 
facts set forth in these memoirs are entries made by me in 1882 in a note book. At that time 
I was collecting information for a history of Deerfield and wrote down anything told me about 
the early settlers. Some of the Strawbridge traditions sifted down through three generations 
of those who have lived on the land where he made his settlement in 1786, are as follows : 
' Strawbridge made the settlement and was driven away by white squatters, who killed his 
oxen, purloined his plow, and destroyed his crops on the belief that his claim to the title was 
antagonistic to their interests. Did not know who the squatters were. — G. G. Colvin. 

"Strawbridge dug a mill race from Yarnall brook to the Cowanesque river. The settlers 
drove him off bccaus! he asked something for the land."— Caleb Short. 

' Strawbrid.5-0 intended to settle and stay here, but the settlers killed his oxen and stole 
his tools."— George Knox. 

" Strawbridge had a nigger with him who hid his kettles and his cross-cut saw. The saw 
was found under a log, but his kettles were never found.— Ebenezer Seeley. 

No hint in all these traditions of the political cause underlying this violence. 




'An extraordinary character, living:, I think, at Tioga Point 

COL. JOHN FRANKLIN. 



THE PIONEER OF TIOGA COUNTY. 83 

it ! In its wild, free course to the big rivers and the sea, the Cowan- 
esque in the twelve decades of its recorded history has never beheld 
upon its banks, a more weird, uncanny scene. It is the opening act in 
the drama of our civilization. It rivals the savagery of the red men 
we had come to replace. The red men were gone ; but this deed indi- 
cates that our territory was still under the jurisdiction of two hostile 
powers. 

Who were the individuals engaged in this border foray ? From the 
nature of the case it is probable James Strawbridge did not know. His 
nephew's memorirs do not tell. They do, however, point out the well-known 
leader of the Connecticut claimants and sum up the general situation in the 
following words : " An extraordinary character, living, I think, at Tioga 
Point, was the head man ; he was clear-headed, brave and well-informed ; 
he proceeded as deliberately toward his purpose as if his acts were auth- 
orized by all laws human and divine. He had no hesitation in engaging 
in a skirmish with the authorities of Pennsylvania, and kilUng some of 
them, especially if surveying ; with the unbounded confidence of his 
neighbors he could raise a quasi war when he pleased. The Acts of the 
Legislature contained numerous laws against ' Intruders, ' by which 
title they were known, and various penalties were decreed, though few 
were imposed. A number of men were killed, and traveling amongst 
the Yankees was a very unsafe business if you were about land busi- 
ness." 

I now approach the question, how long did our pioneer occupy his 
lands at Academy Corners ? If he was here but a few weeks or even 
months his occupancy would hardly dignify him as the true pioneer. Did 
he stay long enough to deserve the application of the term to him ? I 
think he did ; I can determine, I believe from the memoirs and from 
admitted facts the approximate length of his residence. It began in 
1786. The " extraordinary man living at Tioga Point " mentioned in the 
memoirs was Colonel John Franklin. (14) He was the "head man." 
Now, it is a fact in the life of Colonel John Franklin, that he began to 
reside at Tioga Point in 1789. If he organized the incursion that drove 



14. Colonel John Franklin. This remarkable man was born at Canaan, Connecticut, Sep- 
tember 26, 1749 ; removed to Wyoming in 1774 ; was an acting magistrate for many years 
captain of an independent company during the Revolution ; surrendered and was paroled at 
Wyoming 1778 ; took part in the Sullivan expedition of 1779 ; member of the Assembly of 
Connecticut 1781. In October, 1787, he was arrested for treason against Pennsylvania on 
charge of attempting to found a state called "Franklin" where he lived; was confined 
two years in Philadelphia, most of the time in irons, and never tried ; released on bail, and 
in 1792 was elected Sheriff of Luzerne while an indictment was still hangins over him and 
was commissioned and served. In 1795, 179C, 1799, 1800, 1801, 1803, he was member of the 
Assembly from Luzerne, and 1805 he was a member from Lycoming. He thus became the 
first Representative of Tioga county in the Legislature after its organization He settled 
at Athens, (Tioga Point) , in 1789, on a farm laid out for him under a Connecticut title and 
there resided until his death, March 1, 1831, He never recognized a Pennsylvania title, but 
after his death his heirs were required to purchase that title to his farm. His career illus- 
trates, as nothing else can, the intensity of the Connecticut- Pennsylvania contest. 



84 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

Strawbridge from his home, and if he did it after his removal to Tioga 
Point, as the memoirs would have us infer, then Strawbridge resided in 
Tioga county at least three years— 1786 to 1789. He may have resided 
here a longer time. He probably did. 

I think the memoranda on the survey of the State road of 1792, 
already mentioned, shows that he was gone in that year. It is, there- 
fore, highly probable that his expulsion took place in 1790 or 1791. 
I should say from the evidence that he lived here not less than three nor 
more than five years. 

After the courts had decided all the points in favor of the Penn- 
sylvania claimants, the air in Tioga county was still electric with the old 
controversy. More than twenty years had gone by. James Straw- 
bridge was dead. George Strawbridge, his nephew, administrator of 
his estate, came here to attend to his duties. Illustrative of the atmos- 
phere in which the pioneers lived, is the following incident, which he 
relates : "I continued on along a dreary road, the mud covered with 
snow. As I went on, I remarked the track of a man with a moccasin 
coming into the path and I soon saw himself ; the snow prevented his 
hearing my horse's steps until I was close upon him, when he halted, 
turned, and taking his rifle from his shoulder exclaimed : ' Strawbridge, 
is that you ? Here's a glorious opportunity to get rid of you,' and after 
a moment added, ' I could take you from your horse and lay you behind 
that log and the wolves would take care of you ; some of them are none 
too good to do it, but I am not of that kind. I wish to settle with you 
for my land and get a good title, ' (15) and thereupon he took his place 
alongside and we traveled together to the Cowanesque, some five or six 
miles. This was Phil Taylor, (16) who had the reputation of being con- 
cerned in some of these fights. I had formed a bad opinion of him, and 
had I known who it was, I should not have given him such a chance. 
The idea he expressed was quite naturally uppermost. ' ' 

In the space remaining to me I cannot give a sufficient account of those 
oncoming sons of New England, who filled our forests with their 
resounding shouts of defiance to the Pennsylvania authorities. They 
resolutely claimed their lands under an older charter, both in the forum 
and in many a border fight. What is known of them is reserved for 
another chapter which is not altogether lacking in interest. 

I have now given what I have learned of the vicissitudes that befell 
our pioneer while he was permitted to remain in our territory. I have 

15. The deed from George Strawbridge to Philip Taylor made about 1807, is recorded at 
Wellsboro in Record Book for Deeds No. 5 page 112. Feb. 27. 1821. upon the affidavit of 
Ebenezer Taylor who saw it signed. It is not dated and not acknowleged. The land is 
located in Osceola borough adjoining the Elkland borough line and extends from the Cow- 
anesque river to the New York state line. At present (1904) it is owned by Henry Tubbs. 

16. Philip Taylor had been a soldier in the Revolutionary War— served creditably at 
Princeton and at the Tide Mills. He married (1) Elizabeth Overfield (2) Lizzie Place and by 
both has many descendants residing in Tioga county, Mark Taylor, of Osceola, being one. 
Silas Taylor, of Westfield another. 



V 
THE PIONEER OF TIOGA COUNTY. 85 

detailed the motive, the underlying causes (long lost sight of) that 
induced the movement of population in the first instance to the area of 
land now known and designated as Tioga county. 

It only remains to give the few personal items that are Icnown about 
James Strawbridge, our premier pioneer. He was the second son of 
John Strawbridge, who came to this country from the North of Ireland 
about 1752. The family settled at Back Creek and afterwards, lived at 
Fair Hill near Elkton, Cecil county, Maryland. In Maryland he grew to 
manhood and as already noted in due time became an officer in General 
William Smallwood's Brigade in the Revolutionary War. Existing rec- 
ords of the part taken by Maryland in that war are meager, and from 
them, it is impossible to state his rank, or the details of his service, except 
that Smallvood and his men were engaged in battle at Brooklyn Heights, 
White Plains, Fort Washington and Brandywine. From this service he 
was discharged for physical disability, and at the close of the war 
removed to Philadelphia. Upon the sale of the lands by the State of 
Pennsylvania in the "New Purchase," he and his brother, John, who 
was a tobacco merchant on Walnut street wharf, purchased 30,000 acres. 
As has been seen it was the intention of James Strawbridge to become a 
permanent resident of what is now Tioga county, and the manner in 
which his design in that direction was frustrated has been related. He 
returned to Philadelphia and took up his residence in a fashionable 
boarding house at Fifth and Market streets, where he retained rooms as 
long as he lived. 

He exerted his utmost ability to secure legislation to dispossess those 
who were occupying his lands. The legislature in those years held its 
sessions at Philadelphia, and he had easy access to it. The legislation 
was obtained, but so long as he lived it did not prove effectual. The 
laws could not be enforced. Juries would not convict. He was a promi- 
nent member of the Land Owners' Association. He attended all its, 
meetings, and gave it information derived from actual experience. 

He died on Thursday, the 14th day of November, 1805, aged fifty' 
years, and was buried in the cemetery of the Second Presbyterian 
church. He was never married. In face and figure he was an exceed- 
ingly handsome man. He possessed a magnetic nature and his family 
and friends were devotedly loyal to him. As a man of affairs, as a 
soldier and a citizen he enjoyed a deserved popularity. 

An obituary notice of him published in Poulson's Daily Advertiser- 
ill) November 18, 1805, (among other things) says : 

' ' He was endowed by nature with a good constitution ; his mind was 
vigorous ; his disposition distinguished for benevolence ; he exhibited the- 
principles of integrity ; he was extensively known and as extensively 
esteemed ; his property was large and valuable, but it was wrested from 
him by fraud and violence." 

17. A file of this paper was found in the collections of the Philadelphia Library Com- 
pany, corner Locust and Juniper streets. 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 



BY Af^DREW THOMAS SMITH. 



In endeavoring to recoi*d the growth of any system of organized 
activity one is met at the very outset with the task of distinguishing 
between the inception of an idea which grows into a sentiment and the 
performance of an act which marks the birth of an organization. In 
recording the growth of education an added difficulty confronts the 
writer, in the fact that the avowed agencies at work upon this one task, 
are more numerous and varied than the mere system of schools which 
stands prominently before the minds of men. 

In this brief resume of the educational development of Tioga county 
no attempt will be made to even enumerate exhaustively the names of 
those who conceived the plans or performed work leading up to the 
present splendid consummation ; all that will be undertaken is to set 
forth the clearly defined steps in the county's educational achievements. 

Coming from a sturdy stock that appreciated the immense benefits 
resulting from the culture of the mind, Tioga county's early settlers 
attended well to this phase of their family prosperity. Even before the 
county organization itself, schools were established for the education of 
the children of the surrounding households. Thus we learn that as 
early as 1800 schools were organized at Hart and at Pritchard ; and we 
have the definite information that as early as 1802 the first school estab- 
lished in the Cowanesque valley was presided over by Betsy Bodwell. 
'This education of the people conducted as a private enterprise and 
carried on systematically beyond the confines of the home spread 
throughout the county. Nor was it confined to a simple education in 
the mere rudiments of learning ; secondary education early took root 
and flourished, bringing within the territory of the county an estab- 
lishment presided over by men who had drunk deep draughts from the 
fountains of higher culture at Yale and other American colleges. 

Thus we find the Wellsboro Academy chartered by the Legislature, 
March 25, 1817, though opened only after seven years of labor and 
struggle, Nov. 1, 1824. This was followed by private institutions for 
secondary education in four other sections of the county, each flour- 
ishing for a time, performing well their mission in the county, and with 
one exception finally giving way to the march of organized state educa- 
tional activity as set forth in the efficient high-schools which now grace 
the county's towns. The one exception to this form of progress, was 
the Mansfield Classical Seminary, which passing away, was superceded 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 87 

in December, 1862, by the Mansfield State Normal School— an integral 
and very important part of the grand school system of the Keystone 
state. As the Normal School is the one distinctive foundation remaining 
in the county for secondary education, a paragraph setting forth its 
progress and its service to the community seems in order here. 

Founded as a Normal School by an Act of Legislature, December 12, 
1862, it was opened for its new duties and responsibilities with an enroll- 
ment of 200 pupils. Through all these years it has advanced amidst 
vicissitudes, reaching at times to calamities, until to-day its influence 
is recognized far beyond the confines of the state, and its worth to the 
local community is absolutely measureless. With a very meagre prop- 
erty valuation forty-two years ago and receiving, in 1863, its first legis- 
lative appropriation of only $5,000, it stands to-day as a fitting monu- 
ment to the far-sighted wisdom and the untiring energy of its founders 
and supporters. Its record of to-day is one of brilliant achievements. 
The property valuation is $350, 000 ; the enrollment for the past school 
year is 611 in the Normal Department and 190 in the Model School ; its 
list of graduates, prepared for splendid service in their chosen fields, 
reaches the grand total of 2,263 ; while the sons and daughters of Tioga 
county, who received all their distinctive preparation for life-work, or 
their entrance into institutions of higher learning from this foundation, 
are numbered far up into the thousands. 

By an Act of the Legislature, approved April 1, 1834, the Common 
School Law of Pennsylvania provided for an election to be held on the 
third Friday in September, 1834, of School Directors in the various town- 
ships of the counties. They were to organize themselves into boards of 
School Directors by their electing officers within ten days ; and on the first 
Tuesday in November of that year a convention was to be held in the 
court house of each county to decide upon the question of a levy of tax 
for school purposes, amount of tax, etc. Thus we find that Tioga 
county, just thirty years after her county organization, took advantage 
of this power to organize her schools and the Commission met in Wells- 
boro, November 5, 1834. This body was composed of the three County 
Commissioners and a delegate from each township and borough school 
board then existing in the county. 

This first county organization of school men took the education of the 
people out of the hands of private citizens and levied a tax for school 
purposes, thus putting education on the same plane with other state 
functions. The levy made for school purposes in Tioga county was 
$3,000, and the rate was one-third of one per cent. The first log house, 
erected in Tioga county for public school purposes, was paid for by sub- 
scriptions, and was completed and occupied in November, 1836. 

In these seventy years wonderful strides have been made in public 
education, and to-day we have buildings in Tioga county, the property 
of the communities, sufficient to house 387 schools, valued at $251,550 ; 
we are educating in these schools 11,294 children at an actual expense of 



88 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

$148,440.57 and this is done by a tax levied at the rate of 4.7 mills for 
school purposes and 1.45 mills for building purposes. Yet it should give 
us pause when we contemplate the following figures : The average time 
schools were opened throughout Pennsylvania for the year 1903, was 8.08 
months ; in Tioga county it was 7.59 months. The average salaries paid 
to male teachers throughout Pennsylvania was $44.77 ; in Tioga county 
it was $47.12. The average salaries paid to female teachers throughout 
the state was $34.10 ; in Tioga county it was $29.77. 

In 1903 there were no schools in Tioga county open for ten months ; 
there were 70 schools, representing 7 districts, open 9 months ; 97 
schools, embraced in 15 districts, were open for 8 months ; the number 
of schools opened only 7 months was 220, and they were found in 18 
districts. 

Progress has been marked throughout the state since the enactment 
of the present school laws in 1854. Tioga county has done nobly ; let us 
now look beyond the confines of our own county and keep fully abreast 
of the progress the state is making. 

By the School Law of 1854 Boards of School Directors in the several 
counties of Pennsylvania were authorized to elect a County Super- 
intendent of Schools. By June 5, 1854, Tioga county, then containing 
185 schools, took advantage of this Act, and has since had the following 
list of able County Superintendents : 

Rev. J. F. Calkins, elected in 1854. 

Newel L. Reynolds, elected in 1857. 

Hiram C. Johns, elected in 1860. 

Victor A. Elliott, elected in 1863 ; resigned September 30, 1864. 

Newel L. Reynolds, appointed in 1864. 

S. B. Price, elected in 1866 ; resigned September 2, 1867. 

Rev. J. F. Calkins, appointed in 1867. 

Elias J. Horton, Jr., elected in 1869. 

Elias J. Horton, Jr., elected in 1872. 

Miss Sarah I. Lewis, elected in 1875. 

Miss Sarah L Lewis, elected in 1878. 

M. F. Cass, elected in 1881. 

M. F. Cass, elected in 1884. 

M. F. Cass, elected in 1887. 

Henry E. Raesly, elected in 1890. 

Henry E. Raesly, elected in 1893. 

Henry E. Raesly, elected in 1896 ; resigned in December 1898. 

William R. Longstreet, appointed in 1898 ; elected in 1899. 

William R. Longstreet, elected in 1902. 

Very soon after the inauguration of the county superintendency in 
Tioga county, the need of a concerted effort for the training of the 
teachers in service was felt. Accordingly we learn that the first 
Teacher's Institutes were held in the county in 1855— one at Knoxville, 
October 22 ; another at Tioga, October 29 ; and the third at Wellsboro, 




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EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 89 

November 5. From these ' ' Local Institutes ' ' has grown the annual 
County Teachers' Institute, now held at Wellsboro, and in which the 
teachers of the county receive the benefit of instruction given by the 
best educational talent that the country produces. In addition to this 
professional instruction, given at the day sessions, the people have 
brought to them, in the evening sessions, the best popular lectures and 
entertainments that money can provide. 

The secondary schools that have existed in Tioga county, and that 
served their several communities so excellently in their day, are shown 
in the following list : 

Wellsboro Academy. — Chartered by Legislature, March 25, 1817 ; open- 
ed November 1, 1824 ; closed September, 1869, its property being given 
to the school district in 1870. 

Covington Seminary. —An institution located on the west side of the 
river at Covington, where it flourished from 1841 to 1844. 

Union Academy. —Located at Academy Corners, December 7, 1847, 
where it did a noble work until March 1, 1871, when it ceased to exist as 
a school, two of its buildings having been burned. 

Lawrenceville Academy. — Chartered September 21, 1848, though open- 
ed as a school in 1852. Continued its work until the property was trans- 
ferred to the school district in 1860. 

Mansfield Classical Seminary. — Chartered December 1, 1854 ; opened 
January 7, 1857 ; converted into the Mansfield State Normal School 
(Fifth District) December 12, 1862.* 

In portraying the educational activity of Tioga county, one should not 
fail to mention the Soldier's Orphan Home and School, which was con- 
ducted in Mansfield from 1867 to 1890. 

We are, to-day, in an era of wonderful educational progress ; prob- 
lems are before the school-men of the present which grow out of the 
complex character of modern civilization and the wonderful progress of 
scientific learning. 

The consolidation of rural schools, the establishment of township 
high-schools, traveling school-libraries, special teachers of music and 
drawing for all the graded schools — these are among the many things 
practical school workers are being forced to consider, and Tioga county 
must decide what place she will occupy with reference to them. 

*NOTE— The Osceola High School which had a Faculty of three college graduates was of 
the same grade as these village academies and was patronized by students having similar 
needs. It flouished from 1860 to 1866. Neither it, nor Union Academy, nor Wellsboro 
Academy, which were self -supporting, could hold the field side by side with Mansfield, after 
Mansfield received $5,000 annually from the State. — [EDITOR.] 



RELIGION IN TIOGA COUNTY. 



BY REV. NEWEL L. REYNOLDS. 



People migrate from one country to another for various reasons. Our 
New England fathers came here in search of land where they might 
enjoy religious liberty. They and their children occupied the country 
along the coast as far south as New Jersey. By and by the land was 
well taken up and there came an impulse to push further west. This 
tide of emigration reached Tioga county a little over one hundred years 
ago. 

There were three classes who were not inclined to share in this west 
ward move. First there were the shiftless donothings. They were the 
poor white trash, too lazy to move. They, or their descendants are in 
the East yet. A similar class became indigenous in nearly every locality. 

Then there was the prosperous and well-to-do class. They said let 
well enough alone. 

Then, again, there was the strongly religious class. They had become 
attached to their various churches, were influential in the community, 
and loved their homes. They were not disposed to leave their happy 
surroundings for the untried perils and privations of the new settle- 
ments in Western wilds. 

Of those who were ready to move, there was first the rolling-stone 
class. They were never satisfied anywhere. They came to Tioga 
county, but soon moved on, and have been moving ever since. 

The other class was the industrious poor, and non-religious. They 
wanted land and a home for themselves and their children. A few were 
well-to-do speculators, who bought large tracts of land, and came into 
the county for the purpose of improving and selling them. With the 
great majority, however, the first thought was a home, the second 
thought was the schooling of their children, and last of all, and often 
very remotely, came the thought of religion. 

The earliest religious influence in the county seems to have been that 
of a few Quakers in Wellsboro and on the Cowanesque river. They, 
however, could not stem the tide of worldliness which reigned every- 
where about them, and soon died out. I have not been able to find even 
one of that denomination now in the county. 

As late as 1838 there was in Wellsboro only one professed Christian 
to fifty of the population. Now there is one to three of the population, 
or sixteen times as many as there were sixty-six years ago. In 1848, 



RELIGION IN TIOGA COUNTY. 91 

when I first became well acquainted in Knoxville, all the leading men 
were either skeptical or out and out Tom Paine infidels. 

Under such circumstances the moral condition sank very low. Drunk- 
enness and licentiousness ran riot. When there were only about fifty 
able-bodied men within two miles of Mansfield, they all came to a raising, 
and every man save one got drunk. I heard this story from one of the 
fifty. They used to say that Knoxville people knew when Sunday came 
only by the more frequent firing of the hunters' guns. It was no uncom- 
mon thing to find from one to a half-dozen illegitimate children in a 
single neighborhood. The leading men, the chief officers of the county 
and of the court, were accustomed to go on sprees. The small hours of 
the morning found them in need of help to get to their homes. 

There was indeed one redeeming trait in this dark picture. Great 
stress was laid on being honest in deal and in telling the truth. To call 
a man a Har was a challenge for a fight. 

Some years passed before there was any serious religious awakening. 
Traveling preachers, some good and some not so good, held occasional 
meetings in school and private houses. Their influence seemed to be 
limited and transient. About 1814 a man by the name of David Short 
came and held a meeting below Mitchell's creek on the Tioga river. As 
a result the first regularly constituted church was formed. It was soon 
after removed to Tioga village, and known as the Regular Baptist 
Church, the first in Tioga and the first in Tioga county. Ten years later 
the Presbyterians and Methodists organized churches at Lawrenceville, 
and in 1838 the Episcopals organized in Wellsboro. In 1829 the Free Will 
Baptists began in Deerfield. In Knoxville a Methodist class was formed 
in 1816, but had for years only an intermittent existence. Thus it will 
be seen the order in time of beginning churches in this county was as 
follows : Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Free Will Baptist and 
Episcopal. Other denominations came later. 

The work thus begun was carried on by able ministers and laymen. 
I cannot refrain from mentioning a few of these, even if in so doing I 
leave out some equally entitled to our notice. 

As a leader in the Episcopal Church, Rev. Charles Breck, D. D., 
occupies a very prominent place. He came to Wellsboro a young man 
in 1838, and with all the leading influences in tHe place of an irreligious 
cast, began work amid very discouraging circumstances. He succeeded 
in gathering a strong church and building a commodious house of wor- 
ship. This church has been the mother of all the Episcopal churches in 
the county. Dr. Breck had a worthy successor in Rev. A. A. Marple. 
Mr. Marple was a kind, smooth, scholarly gentleman, and a tireless 
pastor. The names of these two men will be remembered as long as 
that denomination shall endure. 

Among the Methodists the changes were so frequent that there was 
no opportunity for any one man to become especially prominent. In 
Wellsboro Rev. Wm. Manning and Rev. 0. L. Gibson were very active 



92 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

and influential in extending the Church. In Mansfield Rev. E. H. Cran- 
mer, Rev. H. N. Seyer and Rev. H. Lamkin and others did work which 
will last through all time. Then there were Nathan Fellows, Theobald 
McElhany and many others whose lives and preaching were influential in 
building the thirty-eight churches which are doing active work to-day. 

Among the Presbyterians Rev. Mills and McCullough at Lawrence- 
ville were pioneers,* and later came Rev. J. F. Calkins at Wellsboro. He 
was really the Bishop of that people for the whole county. He not only 
built up a strong church at the county seat, but went everywhere 
founding churches, strengthening the weak and settling difficulties. He 
was intellectual and scholarly, and capable of turning his hand to almost 
anything. He became the first County Superintendent of Schools, a 
Chaplain in the army, and leader in the local educational work. His 
impress is upon all good things in Tioga county. 

Among the Baptists there was Rev. David Short as a pioneer. Then 
came Rev. Thomas Sheardown. He was a wonderful man, full of zeal 
and the Holy Ghost. His magnetism was such that wherever he went 
a blaze of religious enthusiasm was kindled. He traveled this county 
over and over, on foot and on horseback, preaching in bar-rooms, private 
houses and barns, and in the woods. He was truly a bright and shining 
light. Later came Rev. G. P. Watrous, whose arduous and self-denying 
labors resulted in building meeting-houses, founding churches, strength- 
ening the weak, and gently leading the weary to places of rest. Among 
the Disciples, Elder James Whitehead, A. G. Hammond and I. R. 
Spencer, will be remembered as doing successful work. 

I might extend this list indefinitely, but the limits set to this paper 
by the committee forbid. Suffice to say that the labors of these and a 
host of others have been attended with great success. This county is 
now dotted over with more than a hundred meeting houses, where 
nearly 10,000 church members find their religious home. 

I have asked a minister in each denomination to give the latest 
obtainable statistics of his denomination in the county. Some have 
given detailed statement, and some only general ones. I desired to give 
the number of members in each local church, but have not been able to 



*Rev. Sidney Mills came to Lawrenceville in 1849 and ministered 5 years. Rev. S. J. Mc- 
Collough came in 1842 and ministered 5 years, but from 1824 to 1831 Rev. Simeon R. Jones 
preached to the Presbyterians most of the time, and Rev, E. D. Wells all of the time from 
1831 to 1842. The latter might also rank as pioneers. 

Rev. Seth J. Porter came to Elkland in 1830 and founded a Congregational Church which 
in 1835 developed into a Presbyterian church. 

Rev. Asa Donaldson organized a Presbyterian church at Mansfield in 1832. 

The first building used exclusively for the worship of God was erected for a " Meeting 
House " by the Quakers at Knoxville in 1812. The Quaker " Meeting House " at Wellsboro 
was built about the same time, but date not settled. 

The first " Church " edifice, it is claimed, as distinguished from a '' Meeting House," was 
erected in 1831, at Lawrenceville, under the pastorate of Rev. E. D. Wells. The structure is 
still standing. — [Editor.] 



RELIGION IN TIOGA COUNTY. 93 

obtain them save in a few instances. The following table is a general 
summary. They are given in the order of their numerical strength. 
The sum total is nearly 10,000. The population of the county is about 
50,000. The adult population would thus be not be over 25,000. Hence 
we find one church member to two and one-half of those old enough to 
belong to the Church. It would thus appear that this has become one 
of the most religious counties in the whole country. 

T-, _ • t- ^o. of No. of Valuation of 

Denomination Churches Members Church Property 

Methodist 38 3,053 $155,400 

Baptist 25 2,500 71,000 

Presbyterian 11 1,771 75,000 

Episcopal 8 723 92,000 

Free Baptist 10 454 15,300 

Roman Catholic, Population 942 5 471 30,000 

Lutheran, estimated 10 650 25,000 

Christian 4 415 12,300 

Congregational, estimated 4 325 14,400 

Universalist 2 47 5,500 

All others, estimated 5 250 5,000 

Total 122 10,059 $499,700 



THE PRESS OF TIOGA COUNTY. 



BY ARTHUR M. ROY. 



In dealing with the history of the press of Tioga county it is not in- 
appropriate, perhaps, to open this chapter with a paragraph relative to 
the development of journalism in the United States. The first news- 
paper pubHshed in this country was "Public Occurrences," a small 
quarto sheet issued in Boston, September 25, 1690. This was suppressed 
by the Governor after its first issue for indulging in ' ' reflections of a 
very high nature." The "Boston News-Letter " was first issued in 
April, 1704, by John Campbell, the postmaster of Boston. It was printed 
on a foolscap sheet, two columns to a page, and foreign news occupied 
three-fourths of the paper, and the domestic news generally filled less 
than one column. That was 100 years and more before the days of the 
local news paragrapher. The publication of the ' ' News Letter ' ' was 
continued weekly till 1776. James Franklin, the elder brother of Ben- 
jamin Franklin, established in Boston, August 17, 1712, "The New Eng- 
land Courant, " a weekly, which soon became involved in a violent con- 
troversy with several ministers over the subject of innoculation, and 
it was so bitter in its remaks on public affairs that in 1722 the legislature 
issued an order forbidding James Franklin to print and publish the " New 
England Courant." James Franklin's name was therefore taken from the 
paper and that of Benjamin Franklin, who was then but 16 years of age 
and an appentice in the office, was substituted. In 1728 Benjamin Frank- 
lin established in Philadelphia the "Pennsylvania Gazette" which con- 
tinued under different publishers until November 3, 1845, when it was 
merged in the "North American." 

In 1754 four newspapers were published in Boston, two in New York, 
two in Philadelphia and one at Williamsburg, Va. In 1776 there were but 
37 newspapers published on this continent, all weeklies, except the " Ad- 
vertiser" of Philadelphia, which was semi- weekly. In 1800 there were 
but 200 newspapers in the United States, of which several were dailies, 
the first daily having been the " Pennsylvania Packet or General Adver- 
tiser," called afterward the "Daily Advertiser, established in 17c4. In 
1825, when the history of the Tioga county press begins, there were 
about 500 newspapers in the United States, including 11 dailies in Phila- 
delphia and 12 in New York ; in 1860 there were 4,501 ; in 1870, 5,871 ; 
and, to show the wonderful growth, we may state in concluding these 
general comments, that in 1900 there were 18,229 newspapers and period- 



THE PRESS OF TIOGA COUNTY. 95 

icals published in the United States, the value of their combined product 
being estimated at $176,000,000. 

When the Pioneer, Tioga county's first newspaper, was established in 
1824, the only printing press in general use was the Ramage screw 
press. The type form was inked with balls instead of rollers. 
Two workmen were required for each press, one to ink the type with 
the balls and the other to make the impression. They usually took turns 
by "tokens"— 250 impressions. The Ramage press was followed by the 
Rust, the Smith, and the Washington hand-presses, the last named be- 
ing considered a marvel of ingenuity, when the ' ' roller-boy ' ' could ink 
the form evenly with the composition roller and the pressman pull the 
impression with a lever. The Eagle and the Advertiser were probably 
the first printing offices to use the Washington press in Tioga county. 
The first cylinder press was placed in the Agitator office in 1862, and 
for years that was run by hand power, a steam engine being introduced 
in 1873. 

None of the early newspapers gave much attention to local news. 
They were established as political ' ' organs ' ' and the meager news 
printed in addition to the literary selections was ancient by the time it 
reached the readers; but it was "news" to them, for in those days 
Tioga county had no railroads, telephones or rural mail carriers, and very 
few mail routes. The foreign news published was from two to four 
months old by the time the Piotieer printed it. Little attention was 
given to printing a record of local happenings for the first thirty years in 
Tioga county newspaper publishing. Since that time it has developed 
with the growth of country journalism generally, until in these days 
every incident and personal matter is seized upon by the enterprising 
local news reporter and recorded. Neighborhood improvements, the 
smallest details regarding accidents and all manner of local incidents fur- 
nish items for the columns of the papers. The personal column to-day 
mentions the names of those who go away for business or pleasure and 
of all the visitors in its territory. It is a wonderful growth from 
the crude hand -press of one hundred years ago to the modern 
printing machinery, from the small, poorly-printed and stale journals 
of the early day to the large, well-printed, spicy local papers of to-day, 
sparkling with their many columns of local record. Now there is scarcely 
a town of 4,000 population in the country without a daily newspaper ; but 
Tioga county hasn't yet a town large enough to support a daily. 

Journalism began in Tioga county with the first issue of The Tioga 
Pioneer, Rankin Lewis & Co., publishers, December 3, 1825. Rankin 
Lewis was the printer and Ellis Lewis, the editor, was a young attorney 
at law who had also learned the printing trade in the office of the Lycoming 
Gazette at Williamsport. The Pioneer was printed on a Ramage press, 
which was much inferior to the Washington hand-press which was a 
later invention. The sheet was a folio 19 by 24 inches, four columns to a 
page and the type was pica size. The terms of subscription were given 



96 TIOGA COUNTY CENTElsTNIAL. 

at $1.50 in advance ; $2 if not paid at the end of six months, and $3 if not 
paid till the end of the year. The Pioneer was published in Wellsboro 
for about two years by the firm of Rankin Lewis & Co. In January, 
1827, the paper was moved to Tioga, then called Williardsburg, and its 
publication continued, with William Garretson as editor until 1828, when 
its name was changed to the Northern Banner. Tioga was ambitious to 
have the county seat moved from V/ellsboro to that place and Dr. Wil- 
liam Willard was one of the active promoters of the enterprise and it was 
he who captured Wellsboro's first newspaper as a valuable adjunct to that 
campaign ; but the movement failed. 

Incidentally it is worth mentioning in this connection that Mr. Ellis 
Lewis moved from Wellsboro to Towanda, Bradford county, became a 
member of the Legislature in 1832 from that county, Attorney General 
of this State in 1833 and was in the fall of the same year appointed 
President Judge of the Lycoming district by Governor Wolf. He was 
elevated to the Supreme bench in 1851 and became Chief Justice in 1854, 
retaining that position till November 17, 1857, when he retired to private 
life. In addition to his judicial labors he prepared a work entitled, 
"Abridgement of the Criminal Law of the United States." Mr. Lewis 
died in Philadelphia, March 19, 1871. 

About six months after the Tioga Pioneer wa?. moved from Wellsboro, 
the Phoenix was started by Benjamin B. Smith, the first number appear- 
ing August 18, 1827. Mr. Smith was an able editor, but he was not a 
printer. The mechanical part of the business was in charge of John F. 
Donaldson, then a young printer, who came from Danville, Pa. He later 
became a clerk in the Prothonotary's office, and afterward was elected 
Prothonotary of this county and, such was his popularity, that he was 
kept in that office by the votes of the people for thirty-six years. 

The Phcenix, however, languished and suspended in a few years. In 
1833 it was revived by Charles Coolidge with Mr. Smith still as editor. 
In 1834 Mr. John F. Donaldson purchased it ; in two years he sold it to 
Josiah Emery and Asa H. Corey ; they conducted it till the summer of 
1838 and sold to Mr. Hartman. Very soon after Josiah Emery again be- 
came the publisher with J. Merry as editor. In the fall of 1838 the plant 
passed to the hands of Howe & Rumsey. The Phcenix had been a strong 
Democratic organ and it appears that its name was changed to the 
Herald and that it became a Whig paper, but when this change in poli- 
tics occurred we are unable to ascertain. 

The Herald suspended for a time and was revived November 25, 1845, 
by Henry D. Rumsey. In December, 1846, George Hildreth, a practical 
printer, took charge of the paper, changing the name to The Tioga 
County Herald. It was then a strong Whig organ. 

In 1849 the Herald was purchased by William D. Bailey, who changed 
the name to the Wellsboro Advertiser and with new type issued a very 
creditable sheet, and he made it also an ardent Whig organ. September 



THE PRESS OF TIOGA COUNTY. 97 

30, 1853. Louis J. Cummings became the editor and partner in the con- 
cern, but he retired in a few months. 

In July, 1854, Mr. Bailey sold the Advertiser to M. H. Cobb, who 
came to Wellsboro from Wayne county. Pa. Mr. Cobb immediately 
changed the name to the Wellsboro Agitator. In 1858 Mr. Cobb accepted 
an offer of a position as editorial writer on the New York World and he 
sold the Agitator to Hugh Young. 

Under Mr. Young's management new material was purchased, the 
paper much improved in appearance and much more attention given to 
gathering local news. In fact, it may be said that it was about this time 
that the distinct local news feature of journalism in Tioga county 
dawned. It has continued to grow ever since. 

We cannot pass over the connection of Mr. Henry J. Ramsdell with 
the Agitator. He was a foreman of the office under Mr. Hugh Young, 
and he enlisted among the first to go to the front from Tioga county in 
1861. He was a sergeant of Company H, Sixth Pa. Reserves. He was 
wounded at Antietam. After the war he again entered journalism and 
made his mark as a correspondent in the national capital. He first be- 
came the Washington correspondent of the New York Tribune in 1865, 
and afterwards was attached to the Cincinnati Commercial and the 
Philadelphia Times and Press. He was appointed Register of Wills for 
the District of Columbia by President Garfield in 1881, the signature to 
his commission being the last official act of the President before his 
assassination by Guiteau. Mr. Ramsdall died in Washington May 25, 
1887. His wife was a daughter of WilHam Garretson, of Tioga. 

Mr. Cobb returned to Wellsboro in January, 1863, repurchased the Agi- 
tator and soon after put in a cylinder press. In December, 1865, P. C. Van- 
Gelder bought a half interest of Mr. Cobb and the firm of Cobb & Van- 
Gelder enlarged the paper from a six to a seven column folio. January 1, 
1870, Mr. Cobb sold his interest to John I. Mitchell and retired to accept 
a clerkship in the United States Mint in Philadelphia, where he has re- 
mained in various positions of responsibility to this day. John I. Mitchell 
retired as editor after one year and Mr. VanGelder became sole pro- 
prietor. He employed George W. Sears as editor until January 1, 1872, 
when Augustus F. Barnes, of Bath, N. Y., bought a half interest in the 
Agitator and September 1st, the same year, Arthur M. Roy acquired the 
remaining interest of Mr. VanGelder. The firm of Barnes & Roy con- 
tinued for 27 years, when because of decHning health, Mr. Barnes sold 
his interest to Mr. Roy in July, 1900. Mr. Roy still conducts the paper. 
The Agitator has been a Repubhcan journal since the birth of that party. 
It is now a seven-column quarto. 

It is recorded by one local historian that the Troy Banner, which 
made its appearance at Troy, Bradford county, with W. C. Webb as 
proprietor, editor and printer, in May, 1846, was in November of the 
same year moved to Wellsboro to become the organ of the Democratic 
county committee. The name was changed to the Tioga Banner and it 



98 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

was published for several years as an " advocate of the true principles 
of Jeff esonian Democracy. ' ' When it ceased publication we are unable 
to state. 

In 1838 a half dozen leading Democrats contributed about $650 for the 
establishment and equipment of the Tioga Eagle in Wellsboro, which was 
managed and edited by Mr. James P. Magill for ten years, Mr. Magill 
had a partner in the person of Alva R. Jones for a few months in 1848. 
In 1850 he sold the Eagle to J. & W. Kirk. January 1, 1852, Mr. Magill 
again took charge of the paper and continued as editor and proprietor till 

1857, when he moved to Philadelphia where he died in 1889. Mr. Magill 
was the ablest editor of his time in Tioga county. 

The Wellsboro Democrat succeeded the Eagle, being established in 

1858, by Charles G. Williams, editor, and Richard Jenkins, publisher- 
The plant was burned in December, 1861, and the publication ceased. In 
April, 1862, Richard Jenkins started the Tioga County Banner in Wells- 
boro, which was sold in a few months to some Tioga Democrats. The 
Democratic leaders at the county seat felt great chagrin over this, and 
as a heated political campaign was in progress an organ was needed at 
the county capital. Theodore Wright, the Democratic candidate for Con- 
gress, bought the Banner and turned it over to the county committee at 
Wellsboro. Prof. M. N. Allen was engaged to edit the paper. It being 
at the most exciting period of the war, the campaign was very bitter. 
But Mr. Wright was defeated for Congress by Stephen F. Wilson. The 
Banner at once suspended. There was then no Democratic organ in the 
county till 1866, when Charles H. Keeler purchased the material in the 
Banner office and began the publication of The Herald of the Union. In 
1867 he sold the office to the Democratic county committee and Charles 
G. Williams became the editor and changed the name back to Democrat. 
In the fall of 1869 Mr. Jenkins again took charge and continued to July, 
1873, when Messrs. Ferguson & Schlick bought it. Mr. Schlick retired 
in a few months and Mr. Ferguson continued for about a year when the 
Democrat suspended and the material was moved away. 

In November, 1874, the Democratic county committee founded another 
paper in Wellsboro with Mr. F. G. Churchill as editor. Mr. Churchill 
was an experienced newspaper man. He named the paper the Wellsboro 
Gazette, the material being that of the old Democrat to which was added 
the type and presses of the job office of Dr. Robert Roy, which Mr. 
Churchill purchased. In 1877 Mr. S. N. Havens became Mr. Churchill's 
partner. August 1, 1877, Mr. Frank Conevery, a practical printer from 
Bath, N. Y., bought Mr. Churchill's interest, the firm becoming Havens 
& Conevery, and the establishment was much improved. In November, 
1881, Mr. Havens sold his interest to Mr. Herbert Huntington, who, in 
November, 1885, sold to Mr. Frederick K. Wright. Jannary 1, 1895, 
Mr. Conevery bought out Mr. Wright and has since successfully con- 
ducted the Gazette. 

The Hermaic Journal was published by Arthur M. Roy in Wellsboro 



THE PRESS OP TIOGA COUNTY. 99 

in the fall and winter of 1871-2 in the interest of the Hermaic Society, a 
debating and literary association of the leading citizens who maintained a 
lecture course which included most of the prominent lecturers on the 
rostrum at that time. The Journal completed its mission and suspended. 

The Leader was started in Wellsboro in 1878 by 0. S. Webster as the 
organ of the Greenback party, Mr. Webster moving the material form- 
erly used in printing the Idea at Westfield. It had a checkered career 
until 1881, when it suspended and the material was sold. 

In July, 1884, Messrs. Charles G. Fairman and J. Lewis Whittet, 
under the firm name of Fairman & Whittet, moved their printing office 
from Batavia, N. Y, , to Wellsboro and established the Republican Advo- 
cate. Mr. Fairman died a few days before the first number was issued, 
but Mr. Whittet took charge of the business until the following Sep- 
tember. James H. Matson then bought the Fairman interest and con- 
tinued as Mr. Whittet's partner till January, 1886, when Mr. Whittet 
retired. In November, 1888, William L. Shearer, Esq., purchased an 
interest and the firm became Matson & Shearer. In March, 1891, Mr. 
Shearer purchased Mr. Matson's interest and continued the business as 
editor and publisher of the paper till February 1, 1906, Mr. E. A. Van- 
Valkenburg being associated with him as business manager. Mr. James 
M. Miller, formerly of Bloomsburg, Pa., who had been practicing law at 
Hammond, Indiana, for two years previously, purchased the Advocate, 
on February 1, 1906, and assumed control and he still conducts the paper. 
The Advocate is a Republican journal. 

The Little Squib was published in Wellsboro from May, 1875, to April, 
1880, by Misses Harriet A. and Marian R. Simpson, "for their own 
amusement, monthly — perhaps." It was a two-column, four-page sheet, 
neatly printed, and appeared very regularly during its life. The print- 
ing material, which belonged to the Misses Simpson's father, the late 
Robert C. Simpson, Esq., was some years later sold to Arthur M. Roy, 
of the Agitator. 

The High School Rambler was established in 1902 by the Senior Class 
of the Wellsboro High School. It is a 24-page royal octavo size publi- 
cation with a cover, published at the holiday season and at commence- 
ment. It is printed on fine plate paper and is usually handsomely illus- 
trated. Its subscription price is 15 cents a number and its circulation is. 
from 500 to 600. It is printed in the office of the Wellsboro Agitator. 

THE MANSFIELD ADVERTISER. 

Mansfield's first newspaper, called the Balance, was issued in August, 
1855, as the organ of the Grand Lodge of "the Good Templars of North 
America." I. M. Ruckman was the publisher and his wife, Mary C. 
Ruckman, daughter of late Josiah Emery, Esq., then of Wellsboro, was 
the editor. She was secretary of the Grand Lodge of Good Templars 
of Pennsylvania. Sixteen numbers were issued, when it passed into the 
hands of J. Emery & Co. In the last of December of that year J. Emery 



100 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

& Co. sold the plant to an association of the citizens of Mansfield. 
The name of the paper was changed to the Mansfield Express. Simon 
B. EUiott was editior and J. S. Hoard editor of the temperance depart- 
ment. The Express was published under this management for nearly a 
year, when further publication was suspended for want of sufficient 
support. The plant was sold to J. E. Faulkner, who took it to Kansas 
during the anti-slavery agitation and the material was dumped into the 
Missouri river one night by persons who did not like the tone of the paper. 
In 1872 the Valley Enterprise was moved from Lawrenceville to 
Mansfield by H. C. Mills, who was soon succeeded by Victor A. Elliott as 
editor. Prof. F. A. Allen purchased the plant and January 21, 1875, 
changed its name to the Mansfield Advertiser. Mr. 0. D. Goodenough, 
a practical printer and bright local paragrapher, took charge of it and 
remained with the paper a number of years. The management was suc- 
cessively in the hands of D, A. Farnham, Pratt & Goodenough, (Vine R. 
Pratt and O. D. Goodenough) and W. A. Rowland. In May, 1885, Mr. 
Frank E. VanKeuren purchased the Advertiser and two months later 
Sheridan E. Coles bought a half interest and the partnership of Van 
Keuren & Coles continued till March, 1900, when Arthur M. Roy, of the 
Wellsboro Agitator, purchased Mr. VanKeuren's interest and the firm 
became Coles & Roy. Mr. Harold G. Roy looked after his father's inter- 
est in the business. In September of the same year Mr. VanKeuren 
repurchased the interest of Mr. Roy and the firm still continues as Coles 
& VauKeuren. The Advertiser is a nine column folio and is counted as 
one of the influential papers of the county. 

THE BLOSSBURG ADVERTISER. 

Blossburg's first newspaper was the Register, established January 1, 
1870, by Harry T. and Fred L. Graves, under the firm name of Graves 
Brothers. Harry had been running a job printing office in that borough 
for two or three years prior to that date. March 6, 1873, the plant was 
destroyed by the fire which swept away the business part of Blossburg. 
In a few weeks, however, the Register resumed publication with new 
material. In the spring of 1875 Fred L. Graves sold his interest to 
Isaac R. Doud. 

In May, 1879, John L. Sexton purchased the Register and named it 
the Industrial Register. He added a cylinder press and improved the 
plant generally. In June, 1880, the office passed into the hands of 
Havens & Conevery, of Wellsboro. They soon disposed of it and Mr. 
Sexton again secured control. 

The Blossburg Advertiser was established December 5, 1885, by Ben- 
jamin P. Sexton as proprietor and John L. Sexton as editor and business 
manager. For five months the paper was circulated gratis to all who 
would receive it ; then the subscription price was fixed at 50 cents a year, 
and still continues at that figure, though the paper has been enlarged 
from a five column to a nine column folio. Benjamin P. Sexton died 



THE PRESS OF TIOGA COUNTY. 101 

April 13, 1898, and the business has since been continued by John L. 
Sexton, who is now past 75 years of age, but still active as a solicitor 
for his paper and a pungent and forceful writer. 

THE WESTFIELD FREE PRESS. 

The Index, established April 17, 1873, by James V. Leach and N. W. Mc- 
Naughton, was the first newspaper in the Cowanesque valley. The 
editorial department was under the personal charge of Mr. Leach. It 
was independent in politics. Mr. McNaughton soon sold out to Mr. 
Leach, who discontinued the publication of the paper in July, 1874. In 
November, 1875, 0. S. Webster purchased the material and started the 
Westfield Idea, as an organ of the Greenback party. Early in 1878 the 
paper was removed to Wellsboro. 

In the latter part of 1878 E. M. Bixby, formerly of the Elkland Jour- 
nal, began the publication of the Westfield Free Press. In 1881 he sold 
out to J. F. Rugaber, who conducted it until January 1, 1890, when J. 
Hart Miller and A. C. Kimball purchased it. At the close of the year Mr. 
Kimball bought Mr. Miller's interest and conducted the paper alone, till 
August 1, 1898, when he sold it to Messrs. W. W. Marsh and Clark Kimball, 
the firm being known as Marsh & Kimball. May 1, 1900, Mr. Marsh pur- 
chased Mr. Kimball's interest and has since conducted it alone. The 
paper is Republican in politics and is a bright and well conducted local 
paper with a large circulation. 

THE KNOXVILLE COURIER. 

The Knoxville Courier was estabhshed November 1, 1882, by A. H. 
Owens. It was a six-column folio. The firm became Owens & Culver in 
1884 and it adopted the Republican policy. LaMont Brothers purchased it 
in 1885 and in 1886 Mr. Edward LaMont took sole charge and conducted 
it till 1889, when Frank G. Babcock became proprietor and its policy was 
changed to independent in politics. Mr. Charles E. Brugler, a practical 
printer, came to Knoxville from New Jersey in 1889 and on November 
1st he became proprietor of the Courier. His industry and attention to 
local interests soon put the Courier on a sound basis and it has continued 
to flourish and is recognized as one of the solid institutions of the county. 
It is now a seven-column folio. 

THE COVINGTON SUN. 

Covington's first newspaper was the Riverside Intelligencer, estab- 
lished in February, 1888, by S. D. Forrest, and issued monthly. In 
August, 1889, it was enlarged to a seven-column folio and published 
weekly as the Covington Intelligencer. Mr. Forrest died in November, 
1892, and his widow sold the plant to Augustus and Charles C. Redfield, 
who issued the first number of the Covington Monitor Feb. 3, 1893. In 
November, 1895, C. C. Redfield moved the paper to Painted Post, N. Y. 
In December, 1895, I. R. Doud began the weekly publication of the Cov- 



102 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

ington Record, a seven-column folio. It suspended in the fall of 1896. 
January 23, 1897, C. C. Redfield returned to Covington and began the 
publication of the Sun, which is now doing a prosperous business. 

THE TIOGA ARGUS. 

In January, 1827, the Tioga Pioneer, Tioga county's first newspaper, 
established in V/ellsboro, December 3, 1825, was moved to Tioga. In 1828 
Rev. Elisha Booth became proprietor, with William Garretson as asso- 
ciate editor. The name was changed to the Northern Banner. Mr. J. 
B. Shurtliff became the owner in 1831 or 1832 and changed the name to 
the Tioga Democrat. Four years later Dr. Cyrus Pratt purchased it and 
two years later sold it to William Adams of Mansfield. In August, 1840, 
Mr. Adams sold a half interest in the plant to John C. Knox and others 
and it was moved to Lawrenceville, the name being changed to the Lav/- 
rence Sentinel. Two years later it was moved to Troy, Bradford 
county, by the purchaser, Asa H. Carey. 

Tioga seems to have been without a newspaper till 1863, when some 
gentlemen who were anxious to have a paper there, bought the plant of 
the Wellsboro Banner. But before a paper was issued in Tioga the Dem- 
ocratic county committee re-purchased the material and moved it back to 
Wellsboro. 

Samuel J. McCuUough, Jr., who for the last twenty years has been a 
member of the Kansas City bar, began the publication in Tioga in Feb- 
ruary, 1872, of a small four-page sheet called the Tioga Neivs, which 
was in April, 1873, superseded by the Tioga County Express, an eight- 
column, four-page paper, launched by O. S. Webster and A. C. Lum- 
bard. In September, 1875, Mr. A. H. Bunnell bought the plant and 
changed the name in March, 1879, to the Tioga Express. He sold his 
subscription list to the Wellsboro Agitator in 1880 and moved the mater- 
ial to Canisteo, N. Y, 

February 2, 1882, E. M. Bixby revived the Tioga Express. He died 
in 1883 and his widow continued the paper v/ith the heljj of Joseph H. 
Geer, who acquired full control of it after a few months. The Erpress 
died in 1886. In December, 1889, Mr. F. G. Babcock again revived the 
Express, which had a precarious existence until January, 1891, when he 
sold it to J. R. Bowen. Mr. Bowen ran it for about a year and sold it 
to Barnes & Roy, of the Wellsboro Agitator. 

Fred L. Graves began the publication of the Tioga Argus July 22, 
1892. That paper is still in existence and is a good local paper, independ- 
ent in politics, and in size a six-column quarto. 

THE LAWRENCEVILLE HERALD. 

In August, 1840, Messrs. John C. Knox, Hiram Beebe, James Ford 
and Dr. Curtis Parkhurst bought a half interest in the De^nocrat, then 
published at Tioga by William Adams. They moved the paper to Law- 
renceville and changed the name to the Lawrence Sentinel, it being a 



THE PRESS OF TIOGA COUNTY. 103 

Democratic organ. Mr. Knox soon after bought the other half inter- 
est of Mr. Adams and in 1842 he sold the material to Asa H. Carey, who 
moved it to Troy, Bradford county. In January, 1871, the Lawrence 
Advertiser was started by William Drysdale and Uri Mulford. Young 
Drysdale's father was then pastor of the Lawrenceville Presbyterian 
Church. After five weekly issues of this very small four-column sheet 
Mr. Drysdale became sole proprietor. The paper suspended April 8, 
1871, with No. 13, the publisher's father having resigned, and the family 
left the place. Mr. Drysdale afterward became a writer of some note. 
The same year, the fall of 1871, Henry C. Mills started the Valley En- 
terprise and in less than two years moved it to Mansfield. The Herald 
was established by A. Redfield & Son in 1879 and continued its publica- 
tion ten years. Dr. Lewis Darling, Jr., took the plant in 1889 and in 
1890 sold it to Wallace P. Ryon, Esq. Mr. Leon A. Church was a part- 
ner of Mr. Ryon for several years. It is now owned by Mr. Ryon, but 
the paper is conducted by M. J. Bernauer. 

THE ELKLAND JOURNAL. 

The Elkland Journal was established April 4, 1876, by Edward M. 
Bixby. He continued to edit and publish the paper until February 19, 
1878, when he was succeeded by Messrs. Ryon & Ward and they were 
soon after succeeded by Wood & Buckbee. Mr. Fred L. Graves got 
control of the paper in May, 1878, and he managed it until January 1, 
1882, when J. J. VanHorne & Brother purchased the plant and continued 
the paper until July 10, 1891, when the property was purchased by 
Will C. Griffiths. Notwithstanding that Mr. Griffiths improved the paper, 
its publication was suspended in the fall of 1896 on account of the lack of 
local support. Mr. Seymour Lang then purchased the plant, published 
the Journal for a few months and sold to Frank M. Cornelius. Frank 
B. Orser became the editor and publisher of the Journal in 1897, and 
continued it until Sept. 13, 1904, when the plant was entirely destroyed 
by fire. Its publication was resumed Jan. 19, 1905, brighter and better 
than ever. 

THE MILLERTON ADVOCATE. 

April 26, 1877, A. C. Lumbard & Son established a small foHo sheet at 
Millerton, in Jackson township, called the Millerton Advocate. There 
seemed to be no local field for a newspaper there, but the projectors 
were able to secure a liberal advertising patronage from the city of El- 
mira, N. Y., and the paper was deemed to be on a firm basis when Harry 
T. Graves purchased the plant in October of the same year. Mr. Graves 
made the paper the organ of the Grand Army men and through the interest 
created by the department devoted to veteran soldiers of the Civil War 
he secured a good circulation among that class in the county and increas- 
ed the local interest in the Advocate. Mr. Graves is still successfully 
conducting the paper. 



THE MILITARY RECORD. 



BY GEORGE W. MERRICK. 



I enter with pleasure upon the task of preparing a brief military 
record of Tioga county. The people of this county came from a vigorous 
and strenuous race, and they prefer peace to war ; but they know, and 
more than once have acted upon the knowledge that war is sometimes 
the only sure and honorable road to peace. We have produced no soldiers 
of fortune, and few have taken up arms as a profession, yet all who have 
done so have made honorable records in the service of their country ; 
but many have volunteered in the military service of their country from 
Tioga county, when its free institutions were imperiled — never in antag- 
onism, but always in support of the civil power. 

The pioneers, few in number, blazed the way for the incoming tides 
of human life, and indeed, their own lives were essentially that of the 
soldier. They met single-handed the lurking perils of the wilderness and 
its savage occupants. They formed the advance picket line of the great 
army of occupation, following slowly in their footsteps. 

The soldiery of arbitrary governments are often and usually the in- 
struments of injustice and despotism in the hands of irresponsible power, 
and the "man on horseback" has sometimes overthrown popular govern- 
ments ; but generally this has occurred when the people concerned were 
too little interested about their own rights — unfit indeed, to maintain en- 
lightened self-government. But it may be said of the American people, 
I think, that from the beginning of their national life the people of the 
United States have given the amplest proof on battle-field and Senate hall of 
their appreciation of self-government and their ability to sustain it. The 
soldier has never been the enemy of civil government in this land. 

The embattled farmers of the Revolution embraced war to defend the 
right of self-government, not to overthrow it. The infant nation again 
took up arms to defend the rights of citizenship — his right to change his 
allegiance against the doctrine that once a subject, always a sub- 
ject. In 1861-5 the Nation was again called upon to defend against 
internal assault the right of self-government, and especially the right of 
labor to own itself and its wage. And in the Spanish-American war, we 
were enabled to rise to unequalled heights of unselfish patriotism and 
statesmanship, demonstrating to the world that we could— unlike Eng- 
land in Egypt and Russia in Manchuria — go still farther and take up the 
sword in defence of a heroic subject people struggling against the bar- 



THE MILITARY RECORD. 105 

barism of despotism, and restore them to self-government. This is a 
proud record. 

x\t the close of the Revolutionary war, peace having also been estab- 
lished with the Iroquois or Five Nations, who occupied "The Long House" 
in southern New York from the Mohawk river to Lake Erie, many of the 
discharged Revolutionary soldiers came into this wilderness region to 
secure new homes— many of them being among the first settlers. These 
were our sturdy ancestors. I append a list of them, which is thought to 
be measurably accurate. 

REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIERS. 

Samuel Baker, Amos Stone, Adam Hart, George Hart, Andrew Hol- 
iday, Reuben Cook, Sr., Ebenezer Seelye, Simon Rixford, Israel Bulk- 
ley, Nathaniel P. Moody, David Jay, Ayers Tuttle, Daniel Lee, Samuel 
Tubbs, Sr., John Ryon, Sr., John H. Brown, Asahel Nobles, Jesse Losey, 
Harris Hotchkiss, Robert Patterson, Benj. Patterson, Daniel Wattles, 
Stephen Morrell, Sr., James Gray, Sr., Russell Rose, Jeremiah Rumsey, 
Ebenezer Busby, Seth Clark, Isaac Lounsbery, Ebenezer Ripley, Jacob 
Allen, Peter Shumway, Justus Dartt, Israel Greenleaf, Joseph Thomp- 
son, Richard Ellis, Royal Cole, Royal Steele, Sr., Robert Campbell. 

This list numbers 39. I add a few particulars concerning some of 
them. The first settler, now known, by the researches of Hon. Charles 
Tubbs, was James Strawbridge, of whom a most interesting account may 
be found in the article, "The Pioneers." Baker was one of the early 
settlers at Lawrenceville in 1787. He was captured when a boy of 13, by 
the Indians with Burgoyne's expedition, ransomed by a British officer for 
twelve dollars, and re-captured by the Americans at the battle of Sara- 
toga. He enlisted before the close of the war and was in one or two 
minor engagements. 

Amos Stone was a captain in a Connecticut regiment, but took part in 
Shay's RebeUion in Massachusetts, and became a refugee, joining Baker 
in the fall of 1787. Stone held the wigwam disguised as an Indian, while 
Baker returned for his family. 

Reuben Cook, Sr., was among the first settlers on the Cowanesque 
river, and Jesse Losey built a log cabin on Tioga Island in 1791. 

Robert and Benjamin Patterson were noted Indian scouts, and acted 
as guides and hunters to the parties cutting out the Williamson road in 
1791-2. 

Peter Shumway served six years and three months in the Fourth 
Massachusetts Regiment, whose discharge, signed by Washington, is 
now in the hands of Peter Shumway, a descendant living at Wellsboro, 
Pa., states under date of June 9, 1783, that "it shall not avail the bearer 
as a discharge, until the ratification of the definitive Treaty of Peace, 
previous to which time, and until proclamation thereof shall be made, he 
is to be considered as being on Furlough." To this Furlough is attached 



106 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

the powder-horn which this soldier carried through his six years and 
three months of service. 

Simon Rixf ord enhsted at fifteen and served seven years, and Nathan- 
iel Peasly Moody enlisted at sixteen and served through the war. 

Ebenezer Seelye was a trooper in Sheldon's Light Horse, serving im- 
mediately under Washington. 

Russell Rose was promoted as an aide on the staff of Washington at 
Valley Forge. 

Ayers Tuttle fought at the battle of Bunker Hill, and Jesse Losey 
was also in that battle and he witnessed the execution of Major Andre as 
a spy, at Tappan, New York, October 2, 1780. 

Some of these soldiers served in the Continental Army, and others in 
the militia, and others in the line regiments of Massachusetts, Connecti- 
cut, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, and took part in all the 
campaigns and most of the great battles of the Revolution, from Bunker 
Hill to Yorktown. 

THE WAR OF 1812. 

On the burning of Buffalo in 1814, a company was formed from the 
Cowanesque and Tioga valleys. The following is said to be an accurate 
roster of the membership : 

Henry Baldwin, Captain ; Samuel Tubbs, Jr., David Taylor, Reuben 
Cook, Jr., Andrew Bosard, John Knox, Newberry Close, Charles Car- 
penter, Elanson Seelye, Edsell Mitchell, Ebenezer Ferry, John B. Farr, 
Sr., James Cudworth, Levi Maybie, Jacob Hulslander, Gad Lamb, Fran- 
cis U. Spencer, Cornelius Middaugh, John A. Smith, James Smith, John 
Weeks, Sylvester Stewart, M. W. Stull, WiUiam Casbeer, William Wass, 
Asahel Nobles, Geo. W. Hunt, Godfrey Bowman, Duncan L. Thompson, 
Daniel Hunt, Jared Davis, Thomas Eldridge, Matthew Boom, Samuel P. 
King, Jason Cooper, John Crippen, Peter Mowry, Duncan Carl, Stephen 
Morrill, Jr., Sol. Westbrook, Henry H. Potter, Vine Seagers, Royal 
Cole, John Pershing, Homer Ruggles, John Sebring, John Neal, John J, 
Cole, Peleg Potter-50. 

THE CIVIL WAR. 

The Civil War, or the War of the Rebellion, 1861-5, was the greatest 
struggle of the nineteenth century for the emancipation of man. It rose 
in the dark but over-leaping ambition of slavery ; but it resulted in a 
truer foundation for our national life, a better future for labor, a better 
inheritance for our children. 

The outbreak of this war was a great shock to the people of the 
North. Though several Southern States had passed ordinances of 
secession, a Confederacy proclaimed, and southern senators were depart- 
ing from the United States Senate to take up arms against the Govern- 
ment—the people of the North did not reahze the dread purposes of the 
secession leaders until the guns of General Beauregard opened fire upon 



THE MILITARY RECORD. 107 

Fort Sumter, in Charleston harbor. This not only ' ' fired the Southern 
heart, ' ' as intended, but it also fired the Northern heart. 

The passing of generations of prosperous peace had not, as some fear- 
ed, undermined its loyalty. The people of the North had not been bred 
to war, nor to the use of arms, but the challenge was instantly accepted, 
and they exchanged the implements of peace for the unwonted weapons 
of war. There was no hesitation now, since the purpose of the secession 
leaders was so plainly revealed. Enlistments were immediate and spon- 
taneous. Every village "green" became a military camp where eager 
youth from the schools, the shops, the stores and the farm, gathered to 
be trained in the school of the soldier. 

Four companies were at once formed; at Lawrenceville by Philip Hol- 
land ; at Tioga by Hugh McDonald, and two at Wellsboro by Alanson E. 
Niles and Julius Sherwood. They were hurried forward to meet the call 
by President Lincoln for 75,000 volunteers. These companies reached 
the state capital too late to be accepted under this call, but their ardent 
patriotism would not be denied and this was met by the Legislature of 
the State then in session, passing an act authorizing a division of State 
troops as a Reserve Corps, for the use of the General Government, when 
they should be needed. They were soon needed, and were the first to 
reach Washington after the defeat of Bull Run, July 19, 1861. 

This body of troops, consisting of thirteen regiments of infantry, one 
of artillery and one of cavalry — a full division, was called the Penn- 
sylvania Reserve Corps. Sherwood's company became Co. H, of the 
Sixth Reserves and the 35th Regt., Pa. Vols., in line. The companies of 
Holland, Niles and McDonald became respectively, Co. A and E and G, 
of the Thirteenth Reserves, (Bucktails) and the42d Regt., Pa. Vols., in 
the line. I had thought to add a full roster of every company enlisting 
in Tioga county, but space forbids. It may be found in Bates' History 
of Pennsylvania Volunteers and Brown's History of Tioga County. 

COMPANY H, SIXTH RESERVES. 

Captains— Julius Sherwood, James Carle ; Lieutenants— John W. Rose, 
Reuben Pratt, John Hinman, S. S. Rockwell, James B. Goodman, Frank 

A. Foster. 

COMPANIES A, E, G, BUCKTAILS. 

A, Captains — Philip Holland, John G. Harrower ; Lieutenants— Neri 

B. Kinsey, E. B. Leonard, Daniel Orcutt ; E, Captains — Alanson E. Niles, 
Samuel D. Mack ; Lieutenants — L. Truman, Geo. A. Ludlow, William 
Taylor ; G, Captain— Hugh McDonald ; Lieutenant— Jessie B. Doan. 

Thomas L. Kane, brother of Dr. Kane, the Arctic explorer, was the first 
Lieutenant Colonel of this regiment. The men were hardy and good shots, 
and were drilled in the bayonet exercise, skirmish drill, and wore bucktails 
in their caps, which gave them an individuality which other regiments 
lacked, and they became widely known throughout the army of the Poto- 
mac, where they served. Alanson E. Niles became Colonel of the regi- 



108 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

ment ; Roy Stone, Major ; Lucius Truman, Quarter-master, and Dr. Wm. 
T. Humphrey, Assistant Surgeon. 

While this division was organized as a Reserve, the name was a mis- 
nomer as concerns its actual service in the field, for no body of troops in 
the Union armies was less in reserve than this division. It was compos- 
ed of the best material for soldiers, and it was fortunate in its general 
officers, so that fine discipline and excellent service were assured. Gen- 
erals McCall, Seymour and Crawford commanded it, and its brigade 
Generals were Ord, Reynolds and Meade. It could always be relied 
upon no matter how desperate the situation, but it especially distinguish- 
ed itself in the battles of Drainsville, upon the Peninsula, Second Bull 
Run, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Wilder- 
ness, Spottsylvania and Bethesda Church, which last battle it fought after 
the expiration of its term of enlistment, where the killed and captured of 
the enemy exceeded the total strength of the Reserves engaged in the 
battle. Those who re-en listed for the war composed the 190th and 191st 
regiments, Penn'a. Vols., the first commanded by Colonel Hartshorn of 
the Bucktails, and the other by Colonel Carle of the Sixth Reserves, 
Army of the Potomac. 

COMPANIES F, G, H AND I, 45TH REGIMENT. 

Company F, First Lieutenant— George P. Scudder ; Lieutenants— J. E. 
Woodmansee and Adolph D. Campbell. 

Company G, Captains — Nelson Whitney and Reese G. Richards; Lieu- 
tenants — Samuel Haynes, John J. Rogers, Thomas J. Davis, Ephriam Jef- 
fers, John J. Reese and William T. Fitzgerald. 

Company H, Captains— Edward G. Schiefflelin, Luke D. Seely, Edgar 
F. Austin; Lieutenants— Reuben H. Close, J. D. Greenfield, Enoch G. 
Howard, Hiram Pickering, Levi R. Robb, Nathan Edwards. 

Company I, Captains— Francis M. Hills, William Close, Charles M. 
Hart ; Lieutenants— George Dwight Smith, James E. Catlin, Geo. M. 
Ackley, James M. Cole, DeWitt C. Hoag, Andrew Strong. 

This regiment was formed in October, 1861, on the second call by the 
Government for volunteers, immediately after the first battle of BuU 
Run. The field officers were Thomas Welsh, Colonel; James A. Beaver, 
Lieutenant Colonel ; J. M. Kilbourne, Major ; Captain, Francis M. Hills ; 
later became Lieutenant Colonel. George Dwight Smith was promoted 
to a staff position and was killed at the battle of South Mountain. 

This regiment saw service in widely separated parts of the country ; 
on James Island, S. C. the campaign against Vicksburg, Miss., the 
siege of Knoxville, Tenn., South Mountain, Antietam, Md., and in Vir- 
ginia from Fredericksburg and the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Har- 
bor, Petersburg and Appomattox. Brown's History says of it: "The 
regiment was noted for its fine discipline and the splendid bravery of 
its men." 



THE MILITARY RECORD. 109 

COMPANY D, 57th REGIMENT. 

Captains — H. W. Caulkins and James D. Moore ; Lieutenants — Chas. 
D. Etz, Wm. Mattison, Cyrus P. Slavin. This regiment took part in 
many of the battles in Virginia, where it served until the close of the war. 

COMPANY L, 59th REGIMENT, SECOND CAVALRY. 

Captains— Robert T. Wood, Charles R. Taylor, Robert B. Ferry; 
Lieutenants— Daniel Bacon, Martin V. Hallett, WiUiam A Faulkner. 

This regiment was engaged in all the cavalry actions in Virginia from 
Second Bull Run to Appomattox. From the Wilderness on, it served 
under Sheridan. It was consolidated with the 20th Pennsylvania Cavalry. 

COMPANIES C, G AND L, 80TH REGIMENT, SEVENTH CAVALRY. 

C, Captains— A. J. B. Dartt, Charles C. Hermans; Lieutenant— Henry 
D. Calkins ; G, Lieutenant— James W. Childs ; L, Lieutenant— Otis G. 
Geroulds. 

This regiment was commanded by that accomplished soldier. Colonel 
George C. Wynkoop, who brought it to a high state of discipline and 
efficiency. It served in Tennessee and with the western armies until the 
close of the war. It fought so much at close quarters with the saber 
that it was called "The Saber Regiment." For the last two years of its 
service it was brigaded with the Fourth Michigan and the Fourth United 
States Cavalry. They were a formidable brigade, and the Rebel cavalry 
were not able to stand against their whirlwind charges. This brigade with 
the First and Second Tennessee Cavalry, captured Shelby ville, Tenn., in a 
saber charge over fortifications built to resist infantry. It was defended 
by twice their own number of Rebel cavalry under General Wheeler, with 
two batteries of field artillery. They charged over a double line of in- 
trenchments, with deep ditches, abatis and other obstructions, grape that 
swept through their ranks, stormed the works, leaping their horses 
over batteries, sabering the gunners at their guns, and drove the demor- 
alized rebel cavalry out of the town, killing and capturing half their 
number, and driving half the remainder into Duck river. This was the 
first time during the war that defended intrenchments were captured by 
mounted cavalry. 

COMPANY B, lOlST REGIMENT. 

Captains — Joseph S. Hoard, Victor A. ElUott and Melvin L. Clark ; 
Lieutenants— Abram Young, Franklin P. Wylie, George G. Gay lord, 
Harvey S. Horton. 

Joseph S. Hoard was promoted to Major. The regiment served in 
the Peninsula campaign, but a large part of the regiment was captured 
at Plymouth, N. C, and not exchanged until March, 1865. 

COMPANIES B AND D, 106TH REGIMENT. 

John Irvin was Lieutenant of Company D, but was promoted to Cap- 
tain of Co. B, and again promoted to Major for bravery in battle. He 



110 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

was in command of the advance picket line in front of the center of the 
Union Unes the third day at Gettysburg, and though three times ordered 
in, the word did not reach him, and he opened so hot a fire with his 150 
skirmishers that the Confederate division of General Picket thinking they 
had reached the main Union lines, halted and opened fire. He came of 
fighting stock and had four brothers fighting in the 106th. 

COMPANY F, 108th REGIMENT, llTH CAVALRY. 

Captain— B. B. Mitchell; Lieutenant— J. V. Pickering. Victor A. 
Elliott, a Sergeant in this company, was promoted to Captain of Co. B, 
101st Penn'a. This regiment served with distinction in the various bat- 
tles of Virginia, and was frequently used in scouting service. 

COMPANIES A, B, D, 126TH REGIMENT. 

A, Captains— John J. Hammond, John I. Mitchell ; Lieutenants— Ro- 
manzo C. Bailey, H. L. Pratzman ; B, Captain— Charles Ryon ; Lieuten- 
ants—John Seely, Nelson Doty ; D, Captain — Sylvester D. Phillips ; 
Lieutenants— Albert B. Close, Alva Davidson, Martin Dodge. 

This regiment enlisted for a term of nine months, and was engaged in 
the battle of Fredericksburg. Charles Ryon was Major. 

COMPANIES A AND G, 149TH REGIMENT. 

A, "Captains— A. J. Sofield, Dudley A. Fish, Lewis Bodine, B. H. 
Warriner; Lieutenants — Dudley A. Fish, Lewis Bodine, George Black- 
well, John Walbridge, B. H. Warriner, John Rexford, George D. Brooks; 
Sergeants Albert D. Wright and John L. Barnes were promoted to Cap- 
tain in the 43d Regiment, U. S. Colored Troops. 

G, Captain— Thomas B Bryden. Henry J. Landrus was promoted to 
Sergeant-Major of the regiment. John Patterson and A. B. Eastman 
belonged to Co. F, and Charles L. Hoyt, Lieutenant, and Isaac Bi-yant 
belonged to Co. K. 

This regiment was raised by Roy Stone, formerly Major of the Buck- 
tails, and he became its Colonel. Dr. William T. Humphrey was Sur- 
geon and Rev. James F. Calkins, Chaplain. The regiment belonged to 
the "Bucktail Brigade" and wore bucktails in their caps. This bri- 
gade became famous in the magnificent fight it made near Seminary 
Ridge on the first day at Gettysburg. It held its ground from early in 
the day until four o'clock against largely superior numbers, in front and 
on either flank, repulsing with heavy loss repeated charges on their 
position, and in order to do so successfully, it had several times to change 
front to the rear, under fire, as heavy lines of the enemy charged first 
upon one flank and than upon the other. This movement is rarely suc- 
cessful with old, tried and seasoned troops, but phenomenal with troops 
but a few months in the field. They were the last to retire, but in good 
order, after the enemy had passed both their flanks— but gave them a 
wide berth— not desiring to come to any closer quarters. 



THE MILITARY RECORD. HI 

COMPANIES A AND C, 171ST REGIMENT. 

A, Captain — Anson A. Amsbry ; Lieutenants— Lucien O. Beach, Sam- 
uel W. Lane, Charles Beiter, and William L. Keagle ; C, Captain — 
WiUiam B. Hall. 

This was a nine months' regiment. Robert C. Cox was its Major. 
Its service was principally in North Carolina. It was mustered out Aug- 
ust 8, 1863. 

COMPANY A, FIRST BATTALION, PA. VOLS. 

Captain— George W. Merrick ; Lieutenants— Cecil A. Deane and Rob- 
ert Young. 

This company was recruited under a call of the government for six 
months' volunteers, in anticipation of the invasion of the State. But 
two battalions were formed in the State. When Lee did invade the 
State, and under the emergency call, forty regiments were recruited for 
three months' service. The First Battalion served in the State, chiefly on 
provost duty, during its time of service, and re-enlisted, becoming the 
187th Regiment. 

COMPANIES A AND I, 187TH REGIMENT. 

A, Captains — George W. Merrick, Morgan Hart, Robert Young ; 
Lieutenants — Morgan Hart, Gerould D. Dennison, Timothy B. Culver, 
William A. Stone. 

This regiment was formed by the re-enlistment and completion of the 
First Battalion of six "months' volunteers. It was brigaded after the 
battle of Cold Harbor with the "Bucktail Brigade," Joshua L. Chamber- 
lain, Colonel of the 20th Maine, the First Brigade, First Division, Fifth 
Corps, commanding. Its first engagement was an assault on ".Rives' 
Salient," Petersburg, afterwards known as "Fort Hell," in which the 
regiment lost two hundred and twenty killed and wounded. Major Mer- 
rick was discharged from wounds received in this engagement. It serv- 
ed farther in the desperate fighting of Welden Railroad and Hatcher's 
Run, and completed its term of service at Philadelphia. 

COMPANIES C AND E, 190TH REGIMENT. 

C, Captain — Neri C. Kinsey, breveted Major; Lieutenant — R. J, 
Christenot. 

The regiment was made up of re-enlistments from the First, Seventh, 
Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth and Thirteenth Pennsylvania 
Reserves, and fought through to the end of the war. Field officers from 
Tioga county : John A. Wolff, Major ; Lucius Truman, Quartermaster ; 
J. G. Chambers, Assistant Surgeon. 

COMPANY B, 191st REGIMENT. 

B, Lieutenant — Livingston Bogart. This regiment was composed of 
of re-enlisted veterans from the Second, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Tenth 



112 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

Pennsylvania Reserves. James Carle, of the Sixth Reserves, was made 
Colonel, and was appointed Brigadier General, March 13, 1865. 

COMPANIES A, D, H, B, E, G AND K, 207TH REGIMENT. 

A, Captain — Elmer Backer ; Lieutenants — Joseph M. Young, Thomas 
O. Doud; B, Lieutenant — J. H. Schambacher; D, Captain Sylvester D. 
Phillips ; Lieutenants— Albert B. Close, Chauncey C. Ackley ; E, Lieu- 
tenant — William L. Keagle ; G, Lieutenants— P. H. Blanchard, Henry 
G. Stephen ; H, Captain — Robert T. Wood ; Lieutenants— John E. Park- 
hurst, Amasa C. Culver, Oliver P. Babcock ; K, Captain — John J. Reese ; 
Lieutenants — John Karr, Thomas D. Elliott, William L. Reese. 

Robert C. Cox was Colonel ; Victor A. Elliott, Major; George M. Bas- 
tian. Adjutant ; William F. Wiseman, Quartermaster ; Darius L. Deane, 
Quartermaster Sergeant; Chauncey F. Dartt, Commissary Sergeant. 
This regiment had a larger number of soldiers from Tioga county in its 
ranks than any single organization in service, and was part of a division 
composed entirely of Pennsylvania soldiers. It took a prominent part in 
the re-capture of Fort Stedman, and with it the capture of a good part 
of General Gordon's division, which had surprised the Fort during the 
night. The division, with the greatest gallantry, stormed these formida- 
ble works at the fall of Petersburg, after the most desperate fighting. 
Darius L. Deane lost an arm in this assault. 

COMPANIES E, F, G, K, 35TH "EMERGENCY" REGIMENT. 

E, Captain — Morgan L. Bacon ; Lieutenants — John S. Murdough, 
Abram DeWitt ; F, Captain — William Cole ; Lieutenants — William S. 
Boatman and Robert H. Steele ; G, Captain — Luman Stevens ; Lieuten- 
ants — Giles Roberts and EUery D. Rutherford ; K, Captain — Horace S. 
Johnson ; Lieutenants — Romanzo C. Bailey and Henry R. Fish. 

This regiment was raised (with 39 other regiments, five battalions and 
61 independent companies) on the call of the War Governor of the State, 
Andrew G. Curtin, on the certainty that General Lee had invaded the 
State, just prior to the battle of Gettysburg. They were not concen- 
trated in time to take part in that battle, but many of them reached the 
Army of the Potomac about the time that Lee's army crossed the Poto- 
mac river in its retreat to Virginia. Edward G. Schieflfelin was Lieuten- 
ant Colonel ; Hugh Young, Quartermaster ; Dr. W. W. Webb, Surgeon. 

So far I have undertaken to give a very brief reference to the organ- 
ized companies and the regiments to which they were attached, but in 
addition to this many hundred soldiers from the county enlisted singly 
and in small numbers in a great many companies and regiments of this 
State, from the 29th to the 215th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers ; 
but the limits of this paper preclude any further description. Soldiers of 
Tioga county served in regiments of many other States : The 14th U. S. 
Infantry, the 3d, 23d, 34th, 48th, 50th, 64th, 67th, 86th, 103d, 107th, 116th 
141st, 149th, 194th Infantry, and the 1st, 2d and 22d Cavalry of New 



THE MILITARY RECORD. 113 

York. And also U. S. Marine Corps, 1st Minnesota, 7th Wisconsin, 2d 
Maryland, 1st Connecticut, 7th Kansas, 12th Illinois, 33d Missouri and 
Lane's Kansas Brigade. 

UNITED STATES NAVY. 

Several Tiogans served in the navy. Lott W. Webb served on the 
gunboat Kinea in the Gulf Squadron ; A. A. Truman served on the St. 
Lawrence and Pursuit ; Lemuel Smart on the Susquehanna, Savannah, 
Dakotah and Pennsylvania; Rev. Henry Goodrich on the Mettamscott 
and Hartford. 

THE SPANISH- AMERICAN WAR— CO. K, FIFTH PENN'A. REGT., VOLS. 

Captain— Ralph E. Gambell ; Lieutenants — Edson J. Cathn and Her- 
bert J. Burchfield. This company was wholly enlisted in Tioga county. 
It went into camp at Chicamauga, Georgia, and later at Lexington, Ken- 
tucky, but did not reach the field of active operations. 

THE PHILIPPINE INSURRECTION — 28TH AND 43D UNITED STATES INFANTRY. 

Hugh Carl Young served as Lieutenant in the 28th Regiment. Mor- 
ton L. Avery, Lieutenant in 43d Infantry, U. S. V. Avery was killed in 
action in the Philippine Islands, in 1904. 

The adult male population of Tioga county at the breaking out of the 
Civil War, was about six thousand. Of this number probably two thous- 
and six hundred enlisted in the Federal armies. About twenty-four per 
cent, of this number laid down their lives for their country ! These sim- 
ple figures speak volumes for the loyalty of the county in the war of the 
Rebellion. The spirit of the fathers Hved in the sons. 

And all these wars have tended to establish the idea to which the land 
was dedicated. They were accomplished by a high order of patriotism. 
Self-love is the freezing point in the temperature of the world, but 
patriotism is the human warmth of heart which shall raise the tempera- 
ture to the living point. And American patriotism is not only a duty but 
a privilege, which enkindles and ennobles the heart, and pours out a 
flash of interest and feeling, first upon family and kindred, then upon 
country, then upon humanity. 

Not material force, not extent of country, not great armies with 
horsemen and footmen with flying banners and the show and circum- 
stance of war constitutes patriotism, but an ideal, a sense of duty, a 
sentiment, an emotion of the heart; a love of country, which prompts the 
good citizen in the good cause to gladly lay down his life for his country, 
and regret that he has but one life to give. 



THE BENCH OF TIOGA COUNTY. 



BY HOWARD F. MARSH. 



The history of the Bench of Tioga County dates back to January 11, 
1813, when, as the minutes in attenuated old Docket "A" inform us, the 
first law court was constituted in Wellsboro. The first session of court 
was presided over by John Bannister Gibson, with Samuel W. Morris 
and Ira Kilburn associate judges, and the jurisprudence of the county 
could not have had a worthier beginning. The associate judges were 
men of high character and ability, as well as important factors in the 
settlement and improvement of the county ; and among the great jurists 
who have honored this State and graced its courts, Judge Gibson stands 
pre-eminent. His fame as a just and learned judge is wider than the 
limits of the Commonwealth, for his decisions have been quoted as lumi- 
nous expositions of our common law wherever that law is interpreted. 

Judge Gibson came early to the ermine. He was only two months 
past thirty-two years of age when he held the first court in Tioga county, 
and so he in large part escaped the temptation to which all honorable 
practioners are subject— the temptation to search the law for means to 
secure victory and justice, and not as a judge is impelled to search, with 
a mind single to justice only. For more than forty years he devoted the 
energies of his superb and tireless mind to interpreting law and doing 
justice, with a success unmatched in the judicial history of Pennsylvania* 
By common consent he stands foremost among the jurists who have 
adorned the Bench of the State. He is foremost also in length of service 
on the Supreme Bench, having been Chief Justice almost a quarter-cen- 
tury and a member of that Court for more than thirty-five years. 

Chief Justice Jeremiah S. Black, in his fine eulogy of Justice Gibson, 
published in the Nineteenth Penna. State Report, says: "At the time 
of his death he had been longer in oflSce than any contemporary judge in 
the world ; and in some points of character he had not his equal on the 
earth. Such vigor, clearness and precision of thought were never before 
united with the same felicity of diction. * * * He was of all men the 
most devoted and earnest lover of truth for its own sake. He was inflex- 
ibly honest. I do not mean to award him merely that commonplace in- 
tegrity which it is no honor to have, but simply a disgrace to want. He 
was not only incorruptible, but scrupulously, delicately, conscientiously 
free from all wilful wrong, either in thought, word or deed. ' ' 

It is a matter for genuine congratulation that the first occupant of 
the Tioga County Bench was one deserving the high eulogy bestowed by 



THE BENCH OF TIOGA COUNTY. 115 

Judge Black ; and in view of the character and record of his successors, 
it is almost permitted to fancy that the gracious influence of his high ex- 
ample has persisted through the years, a stimulus and inspiration to 
those who followed him. 

Thomas Burnside, the second Judge to preside in the Courts of this 
County, served but a short time, possibly only one term, as the history 
of the County states, although the basis for the statement is not clear. 
It appears that September 16, 1816, Judge Burnside held court in Wells- 
boro, and that two years later Judge Edward Herrick succeeded him. 
Who administered justice in the interval no record so far examined dis- 
closes. In January, 1845, Judge Burnside was appointed a Justice of the 
Supreme Court, which office he held until his death in March, 1851. 

Edward Herrick was not quite thirty-one years of age, when, in Sep- 
tember, 1818, he came from Athens, Bradford county, to hold court in 
this part of the district, which then comprised Bradford, Tioga and Sus- 
quehanna counties. Judge Herrick studied law in Zanesville, Ohio, and 
was admitted to the bar of that State in August, 1808, more than two 
months before he attained his majority. If immediate political advance- 
ment is a trustworthy evidence of capacity. Judge Herrick must have 
been a man of ability, as well as of early maturity, for shortly after his 
admission to the bar he was appointed district attorney for three coun- 
ties, and at the age of twenty-five he was elected a member of the Ohio 
Legislature. 

In 1813 he moved to Athens, where he had relatives, and engaged in 
the practice of his profession, which he continued with success until ap- 
pointed President Judge of this district in July, 1818. He held the courts 
of this county for more than twenty years, retiring in February, 1839, 
and in length of service stands second in the Hst of eleven judges who 
have presided on the Tioga Bench. 

John Nesbit Conyngham, of Wilkesbarre, followed Judge Herrick, 
and filled the office for ten years, retiring in 1849, although he served 
twenty years longer as judge in an adjoining district. Judge Conyng- 
ham's death was a tragical one, being caused by an accident at Mag- 
nolia, Mississippi. In stepping from a moving train he fell under the 
wheels, and received injuries from which he died in about two hours. 
Judge Conyngham was a man of piety as well as learning, and it is re- 
lated of him that his last words, spoken shortly before his death, were, 
"I know that my Redeemer liveth. " 

Horace WiUiston was the last Judge of the county previous to the 
Elective Judiciary Act. He was appointed in April, 1849, when almost 
sixty-six years of age, and, with the single exception of Judge Niles, 
was the oldest Judge chosen for the Tioga County Bench. He served 
two jears and a half before his successor. Judge White, was elected and 
qualified. Judge Williston died about four years after his term of office 
expired, and the Bar of Bradford county, at a meeting held in his mem- 
ory, paid a high tribute to his character as a lawyer and citizen. Among 



116 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

the resolutions adopted at the meeting was one directing that the mem- 
bers of the bar wear crape on the left arm for thirty days as a mark of 
respect, a custom which in most communities is now obsolete. The ex- 
tent of his business is evidenced by a statement in the meeting referred 
to, that for more than twenty years Judge Williston attended the sit- 
tings of the Supreme Court at Sunbury without missing a single term. 

Judge Williston was the father of the late L. P. Williston, of 
Wellsboro. 

Robert Gray White was the first Judge of this district to be elected 
by the people, as previous to the Constitution of 1850, the Judges were 
appointed by the Governor. The old judicial district included the coun- 
ties of Tioga and Bradford, and it is related that it was changed in order 
to give Judge White and David Wilmot a district without a contest. 
Probably the reason given for the change is correct, for politics a half 
century ago was about the same as now. At any rate the change was 
made, and both were elected. 

Judge White was born in Northumberland county January 21, 1807. 
He graduated from Jefferson College in 1826, when in his twentieth 
year, and shortly afterward began the study of law. In 1829 he was ad- 
mitted to the bar from the office of Hon. Henry Shippen, of Meadville, 
and soon thereafter located in Wellsboro for the practice of his profes- 
sion. He was a delegate to the convention which framed the Constitu- 
tion of 1838, and he showed his belief in equal rights by his opposition to 
that clause of the Constitution which denied to colored men the right of 
suffrage they had previously enjoyed in this State. 

Judge White was re-elected in 1861, and served the full term, making 
twenty years that he held the office ; and, but for advanced age and 
physical weakness, he would perhaps have succeeded himself for a third 
term. Of his qualifications as a Judge, and high character as a citizen, 
the Bar put on record this testimony in its resolutions on his death, which 
occurred September 5, 1875 : 

"In Judge White we recognize what has been appropriately said to be 
the noblest work of God— an honest man. Honorable and high-toned in 
all his thoughts and actions, he adorned the profession of his choice ; upright 
and impartial as a Judge, the judicial ermine was never soiled by his 
wearing it ; courteous, kind and liberal as a citizen and a parent, the 
world was made the better by his living in it. ' ' 

Henry W. Williams, the second Presiding Judge elected by the people, 
stands first in judicial service in this county, having held office a little 
more than twenty-two years. In learning, in temperament, in felicity of 
diction, and in the qualifications generally of the ideal judge, he stands 
second only to the great jurist who held Tioga county's first court; and 
his opinions challenge admiration alike for their correct enunciation of 
legal principles, and for the precision and beauty of the language in 
which they are expressed. 

Judge Williams was bom in Susquehanna county in 1830. He came 



THE BENCH OF TIOGA COUNTY. 117 

to this county when a comparatively young man, read law in the office of 
John W. Guernsey, Esq., and was admitted to practice in 1854. He was 
appointed Additional Law Judge for this district in 1865 by Governor 
Curtin, and in 1871 was elected its President Judge. He held the office 
until 1887, when he was appointed to the Supreme Court of the State to fill 
the vacancy caused by the death of Chief Justice Mercur. In the same 
year he was elected for the full term of twenty-one years, and, until his 
death January 25, 1899, he served in the State's highest court, not only 
acceptably, but with ability and learning not exceeded, if paralleled, by 
any of his associates. 

As a Common Pleas Judge, he permanently enriched the jurisprudence 
of the State by his many decisions defining the legal status of that vagrant 
and puzzling mineral, petroleum, which Pennsylvania claims as distinct- 
ively her own because it was here first discovered and civilized. He pre- 
sided over the courts of McKean county in the time of the oil excite- 
ment, and was called upon to pass judgment upon many of the debata- 
ble questions relating to that newly discovered product, whose character 
and habits were without precedent in the mineral world, and whose stand- 
ing in law was almost as undefined as its ancestry. To wisely settle 
these many questions, and to blaze a new trail in the domain of law, was 
a task of high importance, and it was one through which Judge Williams 
left an indelible impress upon the judicial history of our Commonwealth. 

Judge Williams was a man of wide learning and information aside from 
his professional attainments. He studied medicine sufficiently to almost 
qualify him for practice, and his acquaintance with the history of his 
church and prominence in its councils procured his selection as a lay rep- 
resentative at the great meeting of the Presbyterians in Scotland in 1877. 
He filled all the elective offices in the Grand Masonic Lodge of Pennsyl- 
vania, and at the time of his death he held the highest position in the 
gift of the fraternity, that of Grand Master. 

The last pubhc official act of Justice Williams was to administer the oath 
of office to Governor William A. Stone, who for many years was a friend 
and neighbor of the Judge, as well as a practicing attorney in his court. 
The Governor, with several members of his staff ; the members of the 
Supreme Court ; the Grand Officers of the Masonic Lodge, and many 
other officers and persons prominent in the affairs of the State, attended 
the funeral, which was held in Wellsboro. 

Stephen Fowler Wilson was born in Columbia township, Bradford 
county, September 4, 1821. He was admitted to the bar February 20, 
1845, and was at different times associated in practice with James Lowry, 
with L. P. Williston, with Jerome B. Niles, and with Norman H. Ryan. 
He was elected a State Senator in 1862, and in 1864 was elected to rep- 
resent his district in Congress, where he served for four years. 

Judge Wilson was appointed an Additional Law Judge, as assistant of 
Judge WilHams, in 1871, and in the fall of 1872 was elected for a ten 
years' term. He was not a close and persistent student, like his pre- 



118 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

decessor and associate, but he was a strong and able Judge. His quick 
and logical mind, his excellent judgment of men, his sincere love of jus- 
tice ; and, above all, his abiding faith that what was right was law, and 
that in doing righteousness a Judge would not err in administering law, 
were towers of strength, and the reports will show that he was excep- 
tionally fortunate in having his decisions sustained by the higher courts* 

Judge Wilson was almost inimitable as a story teller. His brilliant 
wit was assisted by a charm of manner and a personal attractiveness 
which have made his stories a synonymn for what is most effective in 
the story-teller's art. During the trial of a case before him on one oc- 
casion a woman was testifying, and the opposing counsel objected to 
some part of her testimony. She ignored the objection. Her own coun- 
sel admonished her, but she heeded him as little, and went swiftly on 
with her story. Judge Wilson rapped sharply with his gavel, and order- 
ed her to stop ; but she went calmly on, about two hundred words a min- 
ute, and a second and third order produced no visible effect. The Judge 
gave it up, and, leaning back in his chair with assumed resignation, 
waited for her to complete her story. When she finished he turned to 
her and said; "Well, you have run down at last, haven't you? And I 
will see that no one winds you up again in this court. You may leave 
the witness stand." 

Judge Wilson's convivial habits during a part of his term on the 
Bench, which were the cause of censure from many who nevertheless 
admired and liked him, were a source of sorrow to their possessor. Those 
who knew him best say that he struggled manfully against any over- 
indulgence, and that he deeply deplored his failures. Perhaps his own 
testimony on this point, phrased as only he would have phrased it, is 
most convincing. He was once called upon to speak in a temperance 
meeting held in the Court House, and in that speech he said, in part : 
"I want it distinctly understood that I am a temperance man, drunk or 
sober. ' ' 

Judge Wilson's unique and somewhat dramatic personality finds ex- 
pression in the arrangements he made for his interment. He constructed 
a granite mausoleum about thirteen by eighteen feet in the form of a 
log cabin, over the gable of which appears the word, "Home." On the 
huge marble slab which covers the vault where his remains were depos- 
ited, these cryptic words are chiseled: "P. S.— Waiting for further 
orders." The Wilsonian touch is found in the prefatory "P. S." No 
one else would have added that feature to an inscription which was un- 
usual enough to excite comment without it. 

John I. Mitchell, the first native of the county to preside over its 
courts, was born in Tioga township, July 28, 1838. He was admitted to 
the Bar in 1864, and four years later was elected District Attorney. He 
was several times elected a member of the Legislature, where he served 
for five years, and in 1876 he was nominated by the Republicans of his 
district for Representative in Congress, where he served four years. In 



THE BENCH OF TIOGA COUNTY. 119 

1881 the bitter contest between Henry W. Oliver and Galusha A. Grow 
for the United States Senate was compromised by the nomination of 
Mr^ Mitchell. After his six years' service in the higher branch of 
Congress he returned to the practice of his profession in Wellsboro. In 
a few months he was elected to the office of Judge, his election occurring 
in November, 1888, and he was re-nominated and re-elected in 1898. He 
continued in office until the first of January, 1900, when he resigned to 
take his place on the Superior Bench of the State, to which position he 
had been elected in the November preceding. He is now a retired mem- 
ber of that court, under the Act of 1901, providing for the retirement of 
judges who are incapacitated. 

Judge Mitchell's election was strongly warranted by his possession of 
many of the qualities'^most admirable in a judicial officer. He was ex- 
ceptionally well versed in elementary law, and he had supplemented this 
knowledge by a thorough study and analysis of Pennsylvania statutes. 
But his highest qualification for the office was the unswerving integrity 
which marked every judicial act. Every litigant went before his court 
assured that Judge Mitchell would do everything in his power to insure a 
just decision, and that neither poverty nor wealth would obscure or affect 
his judgment. 

It is to his recognized integrity and high character that he owed, in 
large part, his political success, although any history of his career would 
be incomplete which failed to take account of his fine presence and phy- 
sique, which procured for him, when in the United States Senate, the 
reputation of being one of the finest, if not the finest, looking member of 
that august body. His political career is an unusual one, the office hav- 
ing sought the man in his case with a frequency hardly paralleled in our 
county's history. In 1876, when the Republican party wanted a candi- 
date for Representative in Congress upon whom the contending factions 
could unite, it turned to him as the most acceptable nominee it could 
find. In 1881 the long battle in the Pennsylvania Legislature between 
the adherents of Grow and OHver was compromised by selecting Mr. 
Mitchell as one acceptable to both sides ; and in 1899, when it was deem- 
ed advisable to retire the Republican nominee for Judge of the Superior 
Court, the party again turned to him as one whose high character and 
flawless record would cancel what the party leaders considered a mistake. 

David Cameron was appointed by Governor Stone to fill the vacancy 
caused by Judge Mitchell's resignation to go upon the Superior Court 
Bench. He served acceptably to lawyers and litigants for one year, from 
January, 1900, to January, 1901, when he was succeeded by Jerome B. 
Niles, who died after less than four years in office. On Judge Niles' 
death. Judge Cameron was again appointed to fill the vacancy ; and he 
became the nominee of both parties for the ten years' term beginning in 
January, 1906. 

He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and it is perhaps worth noting 
that while his predecessor in office and brother-in-law, Judge MitcVv- 



120 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

ell, was the first Judge born within the county, Judge Cameron is the 
only occupant of our Bench bom without the jurisdiction of the United 
States. He has, however, been a resident of this county for more than 
half a century, and a citizen since his majority. He and Judge Mitchell 
are the only survivors of the eleven Judges who have graced the Tioga 
County Bench. 

Judge Cameron was a successful coal miner for a few years, and one 
of his recollections connected with this employment is that he was com- 
pelled to go on a strike, very much against his will, when he was earning 
about ten dollars a day. He subsequently taught school for several terms, 
and in following out the approved system of pedagogy in vogue at that 
time was occasionally compelled to strike, although at considerable less 
expense than he incurred in coal mining. He was admitted to the Bar in 
1868, when about thirty years of age, and as a lawyer has been concern- 
ed in many important cases, both civil and criminal. He served for sev- 
eral years as Assistant District Attorney for the United States in the 
Western District of this State, his friend, ex-Governor Stone, being a 
part of the time the District Attorney. 

Although a Scotchman, and proud of his ancestry, Judge Cameron has 
none of the canny Scot's alleged impregnability to a joke. On the con- 
trary, he is a fine story-teller, and he also has the appreciative ear in 
which Shakespeare affirms a joke's prosperity rests. He is a discrim- 
inating reader of good literature, with a special predilection for Robert 
Burns, whose poems he reads and recites as only a Scotchman can who 
loves the poems and the tongue. He finds himself equally at home in 
educational, literary or professional gatherings. 

Jerome B. Niles was elected in the November election, 1900, and his 
term began the first Monday of January, 1901. 

He was born in Middlebury township, September 25th, 1834, and was 
the second native of the county to occupy its Bench. It is perhaps a 
coincidence that neither he nor Judge Mitchell, his predecessor by elec- 
tion, and the only other occupant of the Bench born within the county, 
was ever defeated in a contest before the people, although each submit- 
ted his name eleven times to the voters for their verdict. Another co- 
incidence—a sad one— in their records, is that each was incapacitated by 
physical weakness while serving as Judge. 

Judge Niles was admitted to practice in 1861, and at the time of his 
election the onlysurviving members of the Bar admitted at an earlier date 
were John N. Bache, admitted in 1843, and Col. R. T. Wood, whose ad- 
mission was ten years later. Judge Niles had been in practice more than 
thirty-nine years when he became Judge, and was of wide experience, 
not only in his profession, but in business and State affairs. The year 
after his admission to the Bar he was elected District Attorney, and the 
same year he was appointed Mercantile Appraiser in the county and 
Message Clerk in the House of Representatives. In 1865 he was re- 
elected District Attorney, and in 1868 was chosen a member of the Leg- 



THE BENCH OF TIOGA COUNTY. 121 

islature, to which office he was re-elected in 1869. Three years later he 
was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention, which framed 
the Constitution of 1874, and he subsequently served eight years in the 
Legislature. In 1883 he was elected Auditor General of the State, and 
of his service in that position the Philadelphia Times said that no other 
official ever made a more earnest or successful effort to give the State 
the largest revenue possible under the laws. The Act of 1885, more than 
doubling the revenue from money at interest, "was in large part framed 
in his office," the Times says, and his efforts in behalf of equal taxation, 
perhaps furnish one of the reasons why the farmers were always en- 
thusiastic in his support. 

Judge Niles was an exceptionally suave and considerate Judge, and 
while he was solicitous to prevent unnecessary expense to the county, 
he was also careful to extend all reasonable courtesy to litigants and 
their counsel. His long experience at the Bar did not serve to spoil a 
Judge in the making of an advocate, for the bent of his mind was judi- 
cial, and when he came to the Bench his administration of its duties was 
from the first easy and natural. 

In November, 1902, Judge Niles was stricken with a disease which 
baffled the skill of specialists, and after a brave and patient battle of 
two years, his death occurred on the twenty-ninth of December, 1904. His 
last official act was the signing of an order awarding a writ of habeas 
corpus to release from jail some prisoners charged with violation of 
quarantine regulations at Morris Run. Five days later came his own 
merciful release from pain and weariness. 

Besides the President Judges of the district already noted, Arthur E. 
Olmsted, for many years President Judge of the Potter county district, 
was elected Additional Law Judge of this district in 1882, which position 
he held until the Judicial Apportionment Act of August 7, 1883, erected 
Tioga county into a separate judicial district and created Potter and Mc- 
Kean counties a district of which he became the presiding Judge. Judge 
Olmsted was born in 1827, and was admitted to the Bar in 1850. He 
served three terms in the Legislature, and was the first candidate of the 
Republican party for Lieutenant Governor under the new constitution, in 
1874, when, owing to disturbed political conditions, the party was defeat- 
ed. He is a man of unusual natural gifts, is deeply read in the law, and 
his flawless integrity and quick discernment, complete an equipment for 
the high office of Judge that is not easily paralleled. 

Summarizing the story of our Bench, it appears that of the eleven 
Judges who have presided over our courts, five were appointed by the 
Governor under the early law, and six have been elected. Of the six 
elected, two, Wilson and Cameron, were also appointed, and Williams 
and Wilson were appointed Additional Law Judges previous to their ser- 
vice in that office by election. Their average age on assuming office was 
forty-six and two-thirds years. Judge Herrick was the youngest, thirty 
years and ten months, and Judge Niles was the oldest, sixty-six years and 



122 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

three months. With the exception of Judge Williston, none of the Judges 
previous to Judge Wilson's time, had, when chosen, reached the age of 
forty-five years. Three of the Judges, Gibson, Burnside and Williams, 
served on the Supreme Court Bench ; and one, Mitchell, in the Superior 
Court. Two, Williams and Niles, assisted in framing our present Con- 
stitution ; Williams as a member of the Board of Revision, and Niles as a 
delegate to the Constitutional Convention. Two, Wilson and Mitchell, 
served in Congress, the latter in both branches. Of the Judges appoint- 
ed by the Governor none was a resident of the county when selected ; 
while all of those elected resided in Wellsboro, although for more than 
thirty years after the Elective Judiciary Act, Tioga county was in a judi- 
cial district with three, and part of the time four, other counties. Of the 
appointed Judges, three were college graduates, but of those elected only 
one, Judge White, held a college diploma. In length of judicial service 
to the Commonwealth, Justice Gibson is first, with forty-one years, and 
Justice Williams second with thirty-four. The average term of service 
in the county of each Judge is a little more than eight years, Judge Wil- 
liams' service being longest, twenty-two years, and Judge Burnside 's 
probably the shortest. 



THE BAR OF TIOGA COUNTY. 



BY DAVID CAMERON. 



The monograph on the Judges who have occupied the Bench of Tioga 
County has been assigned to other hands. Some of those Judges came 
into this district by appointment by the Governor under the Constitution 
of 1790 and were not members of the bar of Tioga County. Others have 
been members of our bar, but as the career of each one has been fully 
discussed in the article on the Bench, it is manifestly inappropriate for 
me to duplicate the work already performed. This paper therefore, will 
contain no mention of such members of this bar as have at any time 
occupied the Bench. The writer is greatly indebted to the History of 
Tioga County for what follows. 

The only lawyers present when Court first opened in Wellsboro of 
whom there is any account were Ethan Baldwin, Henry Wilson, Francis 
Campbell and Robert McClure. There was no resident lawyer at that 
time. 

William Patton, the first resident lawyer, came soon after and lived in 
a log cabin where the residence of the late Justice Williams now stands. 
The above cited history says : "He was born in Philadelphia, August 
8th, 1781, and there grew to manhood and married Henrietta Anthony. 
His name appears as one of the trustees of Wellsboro Academy in 1818, 
and in 1820 was elected Vice-President of the Board. He acted as Dep- 
uty Attorney General in 1819 and died in Wellsboro in 1823. 

Clarendon Rathbone was born in Sutton, Mass., March 23rd, 1796, and 
was admitted to the bar of Madison County, N. Y., May 9th, 1820. He 
removed to Lawrenceville, this county, and was admitted to the bar in 
1821, where he practiced till 1840, when he moved to Blossburg, where he 
lived and practiced till his death, August 26th, 1882. He was appointed 
Deputy Attorney General in 1826 and reappointed in 1827 and 1828 and 
again in 1834. He had an extensive law practice for those times and 
was greatly interested in public improvements for the development of the 
timber, mineral and agricultural resources of the county. He was large- 
ly instrumental for the passage of an act for the construction of the Che- 
mung Canal and the incorporation of the Tioga Navigation Company, 
which resulted in the building of the railroad from Corning to Blossburg. 
His business operations were very extensive and he had much to do with the 
opening and development of the coal mines at Blossburg and the building 
up of that section of the county. He had excellent legal ability, high 
social and business standing. The writer remembers him in his prime as 



124 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

a man of fine presence and courtly manners, distinctively in appearance 
a gentleman of the old school. 

Josiah Emery was born in Canterbury, New Hampshire, November 
30th, 1801, and could trace his ancestry back through six generations. 
He was one of a family of sixteen children and father of a family of 
eleven. Attended Kimball Academy in his native State and later entered 
Dartmouth College, where he remained till reaching his majority. Then 
followed teaching for six years. He was graduated from Union College, 
New York, in 1828, and immediately moved to Wellsboro, where he was 
principal of the Academy for two years. Was admitted to the bar in 
1831 and practiced his profession in Wellsboro till 1871, when he removed 
to Williamsport where he died April 26th, 1891. He served for a time as 
District Attorney of Tioga County ; as Commissioner in Bankruptcy and 
of drafts during the war. He always took a deep interest in all educa- 
tional matters ; was for many years a trustee of the Wellsboro Academy 
and wrote much on local topics. 

Through his work much early history of Wellsboro and Tioga County 
has been preserved. His closing years were devoted entirely to literary 
pursuits. His latest and greatest literary effort was a manuscript his- 
tory of earthquakes. 

William Garretson was born in Mount Pleasant, Ohio, October 13th, 
1801. He removed to Alexandria, Virginia, in 1820, where he taught 
school. He studied medicine with Dr. Webster Lewis in York County, in 
1821. He was admitted to the bar of this county in 1825 ; lived at Wells- 
boro two years, when he removed to Tioga and in connection with his 
practice there edited the Tioga Pioneer. He was appointed Deputy 
Attorney General in 1829. Was elected to the State House of Represen- 
tatives in 1836 and re-elected in 1837. During those years he was most 
potential in the memorable fight that resulted in the passage of the Com- 
mon School law. He stood shoulder to shoulder with Thaddeus Stevens 
through it all. He was a conductor on the ' 'underground railroad" and as- 
sisted many slaves to liberty. He was the implacable foe of American 
slavery and in fact of every form of oppression. Mr. Garretson was a 
man of strong convictions, sterling integrity and purity of character. He 
died December 23d, 1872, universally beloved. 

James Lowery was born at Farmington, Conn., in 1802, and was grad- 
uated from Yale College in 1824. He taught the Wellsboro Academy for 
a short time, studied law under Ellis Lewis and was admitted to the bar 
in 1826. He practiced his profession at Wellsboro till 1865, when he re- 
moved to Burlington, N. J., where he died November 30th, 1875. He repre- 
sented Tioga County in the State House of Representatives for two years. 
He was wise in counsel and had a lucrative practice. It has been truth- 
fully said of him that "his professional career was without a stain and 
his private life equally spotless in its purity, and he was distinguished 
alike for his modesty and his learning, for his gentleness of heart and 
clearness of head." 



THE BAR OF TIOGA COUNTY. 125 

John W. Maynard was born at Springfield, Vermont, May 18th, 1806. 
He studied law in Otsego County, New York, and removed with his 
parents to Lawrenceville, where he practiced till 1833 when he located at 
Tioga and continued his practice till 1840, when he moved to Williams- 
port. From 1862 to 1868 he served by election as President Judge of the 
Third Judicial Judicial District, composed of Northampton and Lehigh 
counties. He resigned and returned to Williamsport in 1868. He was a 
ripe scholar, a profound lawyer and a brilliant advocate. He died at 
Minnequa in 1885. 

A. J. Monroe was born in Massachusetts, October 7, 1806. Settled in 
Tioga County in 1842. Studied law under John C. Knox and was admit- 
ted to the bar in 1843. Served a short time as Deputy Attorney General. 
Elected to the State House of Representatives in 1850. Removed to 
Iowa in 1859. 

Pardon Damon was born in Massachusetts in 1808. Removed to this 
county when quite young. Studied under John C. Knox. Was admitted 
to the bar and practiced his profession at Lawrenceville till his death in 
1872. 

John W. Guernsey was born at Hudson, N. Y., January 28th, 1811. 
His parents settled on a farm in Susquehanna County, Pa., when he was 
about four months old. He was educated at Montrose Academy in that 
county. He removed to Wellsboro in 1831, where he read law under 
James Lowery and was admitted to the bar in 1835, and located at Tioga. 
He served one term in the Senate of Pennsylvania and two terms in the 
House of Representatives. During all his public life he kept up his 
practice which soon became extensive and lucrative. He died at Tioga 
November 29th, 1882. 

Alexander S. Brewster was bom in Susquehanna County, Pennsyl- 
vania, April 7th, 1812. He was educated in the common schools of that 
county and Montrose Academy. He removed with his parents to Wells- 
boro in 1831, where he lived till his death. Studied law under James 
Lowery and was admitted to the bar in 1835. Ten days after his admis- 
sion he was appointed District Attorney and filled the office three years. 
He was transcribing clerk of the State Legislature from 1846 to 1852, 
both inclusive. He held many local offices, notably Justice of the Peace, 
without opposition for thirty-five years. He had a happy, winning dis- 
position. His wit was of the first water. He was in great demand as 
an after dinner speaker and was beloved by all who knew him. 

Hon. Henry Sherwood was born at Bridgeport, Conn., October 9th, 
1813. In boyhood lived on a farm near Catharine, N. Y., where he re- 
ceived a common school and academic education and taught one year. 
Employed as a clerk in a store at Columbus, Ohio, after which he served 
a brief term in the Texan Army under General Houston. Thereafter he set- 
tled in Bradford County, Pa., and in 1840 removed to Knoxville, this 
county, where he engaged in lumbering and merchandising. Came to 
Wellsboro in 1846, studied law under Hon. Robert G. White and was ad- 



126 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

mitted to the bar September 7th, 1847. He was an industrious and pains- 
taking lawyer and especially effective in the conduct of trials and the 
the presentation of facts to a jury. His extensive acquaintance and 
accurate judgment of men placed him in the front rank as a trial lawyer. 
He was greatly interested in the development of the material resources 
of the County and was for many years president of the Corning, Cowan- 
esque & Antrim and Pine Creek Railways. In politics a Democrat. 
Three times a candidate for Congress, to which he was elected in 1872 by 
a majority of 27, in a strongly Republican district. He was always po- 
tential in his party's councils and represented it often in State and Na- 
tional conventions. He died at Wellsboro, November 10th, 1899. 

Lorenzo P. Williston was born at Binghamton, N. Y., in 1815. Re- 
ceived a liberal education and studied law under his father, Hon. Horace 
Williston, (who served as President Judge of this district by appoint- 
ment) in Athens, Bradford County, Pa., and was admitted to the bar of 
Bradford County. Removed to Wellsboro and entered into partnership 
with Hon. S. F. Wilson in the practice of the law. Was a member of 
the State House of Representatives from 1856 to 1860. President Lin- 
coln appointed him U. S. Judge for the territory of Dakota and trans- 
ferred him to the territory of Montana. When his term expired he re- 
turned to Bradford County and resumed practice in Towanda, and later 
removed to Wellsboro, where he died in 1887. Judge Williston was a 
lawyer by intuition. Legal technicalities were not to his taste. He 
took a broad, liberal view of the law and seized at once the equities of a 
case and the legal principles involved. He had a strict regard for the 
ethics of his profession. 

Thomas Allen was born at Kennebunk, York County, Maine, Decem- 
ber 11, 1817. Settled at Elkland, Tioga County, Pennsylvania, in 1841, 
and spent seven years in the harness and saddlery business. He received 
his legal training under John C. Knox at Wellsboro, and was admitted to 
the bar there in [ 1851, and there conducted a successful practice until 
1865. During the next ten years he served as a clerk in the County Com- 
missioners' office and in 1874 was elected County Treasurer. He died 
some years later at Wellsboro. 

I, John N. Bache was born at Wellsboro, Pa., March 8th, 1820. His 
preliminary education was obtained in the common schools. He studied 
under Robert G. White for a time and later was graduated from the Yale 
law school and admitted to the bar of Tioga County in 1843. Mr. Bache 
was a lawyer by intuition. Was remarkably well versed in elementary 
law and knew principles better than cases. Was a great student of com- 
mon law and his good judgment enabled him to apply principles to cases 
as they were brought to his attention. But for his defect of hearing he 
would have been one of the foremost lawyers of his day. On account of 
it he gradually withdrew from active practice and turned his attention to 
coal and timber lands. He knew the coal measures of this and adjoining 
counties as he knew his alphabet and could talk most interestingly about 



THE BAR OF TIOGA COUNTY. 127 

them. He located the Antrim coal field and also that of English Center. 
He spent all his life in Wellsboro. 

Hon. Charles H. Seymour, born August 21st, 1820, at Bath, N. Y. 
Removed in his youth to Tioga, Pa., and read law in the office of John 
W. Guernsey ; admitted to the bar in 1847 and practiced his profession 
with energy and success the remainder of his life at Tioga. He served 
one term in the State Senate from 1876 to 1880, where he was distin- 
guished for industry in the committee room and vigilance on the floor 
looking after the interests of his constituents. His influence was exert- 
ed on the right side of all important measures acted on during his term 
of office. He died June 6th, 1882. 

Julius Sherwood was bom in Schuyler County, New York, and was 
admitted to the bar of Tioga County, December 17th, 1844. He practiced 
his profession in Wellsboro and for many years was one of the foremost 
lawyers of the county. He died at Williamsport July 7th, 1875. 

A. P. Cone was born in New Hampshire in 1820. Read law under 
John C. Knox at Lawrenceville and was admitted to the bar of Tioga 
County in 1846. Practiced his profession at Wellsboro till his death in 
1871. He had a good legal mind and great industry. He secured a lu- 
crative practice and in addition thereto operated extensively in rea] 
estate. He built what is now known as the Coles House in Wellsboro 
and other buildings here and elsewhere. 

John W. Ryon was born at Elkland, Tioga County, March 4th, 1825, 
and studied law for a time under John C. Knox and later under James 
Lowery at Wellsboro. Was admitted to the bar in 1846. In 1850 he was 
re-elected District Attorney of the county and was re-elected, serving 
six years. Mr. Ryon was a good all around lawyer, a safe counsellor, an 
expert trial lawyer and a brilliant advocate. He removed to Pottsville, 
Schuylkill County, in March, 1863, where he resided till his death. Rep- 
resented the Thirteenth District in Congress with distinction. He was a 
leading lawyer of the Commonwealth for thirty years. 

Frederick E. Smith was born in Amherst, New Hampshire, November 
15th, 1822. His parents removed to Marion, New York, during his boy- 
hood. - He graduated from Union College in 1844, after which he spent 
several years teaching in Clyde and Wolcott Academies. Studied law 
under Hon. Chauncey F. Wolcott for a time. Settled in Tioga in 1846 
and finished his term of study under Hon. John W. Guernsey and was 
admitted to the bar in 1849. He was industrious, painstaking and schol- 
arly. His facility of expression made his writings models of brevity and 
strength of statement. He was Register in Bankruptcy for this Con- 
gressional district from the passage of the Bankrupt Act in 1867 to its 
repeal. His decisions were regarded as authority by both bench and bar. 
On that account many important cases in bankruptcy from other dis- 
tricts were referred to him by the United States District Court. His 
whole professional life was spent at Tioga where he died October 8th, 
1889. 



128 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

Henry Allen was born in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, August 10th, 
1823. Studied law with Judge Dietrick at Cherry, Luzerne County, and 
with Judge Bullock at Smithfield, and in 1854 was admitted to the Brad- 
ford County bar. He settled in Tioga County soon afterwards and serv- 
ed three years as District Attorney. Later, from September, 1864, to 
October, 1865, he was a law clerk in the Internal Department at Wash- 
ington. Resumed the practice of his profession at Mansfield. Mr. Allen 
was an active, earnest lawyer and gave to his clients his best efforts. 
He died at Mansfield, January 4, 1888. 

Charles O. Bowman was born at Westfield, Pa., March 6th, 1825. 
Studied law under Hon. Robert G. White at Wellsboro and was admitted 
to the bar September 8th, 1852 ; was elected to the State Legislature in 
1862; removed to Corry, Erie County, Pa., 1865. In 1869 he was there 
elected to the State Legislature. He continued in active practice of his 
profession till his death, which occurred some years later. 

Augustus Streeter was born December 12th, 1823. Studied law under 
A. J. Monroe at Knoxville, Tioga County, and was admitted to the bar 
in 1854. He located at Westfield where he practiced his profession con- 
tinuously till his death in 1883. 

Augustus Redfield was born in Cayuga County, N. Y., November 6th, 
1826. Was educated at Moravia, N. Y. Entered on the breaking out of 
the rebellion and served in the Union army till the war closed. Studied 
law under George W. Merrick at Wellsboro. Was admitted to the bar in 
1871. Located at Lawrenceville and later moved to Covington, where he 
practiced till his death. 

Robert C. Simpson was born in Scotland in 1823. Removed to Sus- 
quehanna County, Pa., in 1834, with his parents. While he never prac- 
ticed he was an assiduous student of the law and was admitted to the 
bar of Tioga County in 1880. Was one of the moving spirits in the or- 
ganization of the Tioga County Bar Association, and was elected its Pres- 
ident several successive terms. 

Hon. Butler B. Strang, son of a Methodist minister, was bom March 
16th, 1829, in Steuben County, New York. At the age of eleven years 
he removed to Tioga County, Pa., studied law with A. J. Munroe at 
Knoxville ; admitted to the bar 1852 ; opened an office at Sabinsville ; 
elected District Attorney 1856, and in 1860 a member of the State House 
of Representatives. This was the beginning of a long and successful 
legislative career, which comprised the chairmanship of the Judiciary 
Committee for two sessions, the Ways and Means for one session and 
culminated in his election to the Speakership first in the House in 1870 
and second of the Senate in 1873, he being the last of the line uuder the 
Constitution of 1838. In 1881 he was appointed U. S. Marshal for the 
district of Dakota, which he held for a brief term, but the office not be- 
ing to his taste, he returned to the duties of his professional life at his 
home at Westfield, where he died of a self-inflicted wound, March 10th, 
1884. His energy was not sufficient to prompt him to long and sustained 



THE BAR OF TIOGA COUNTY. 129 

efforts either in professional or political life. At the bar or in the forum 
of political discussion he excelled in lucidity of statement and in a re- 
strained but effective eloquence of expression. 

Samuel E. Kirkendall was born in Tioga County, Pa., March 29th, 
1834. Educated in the common schools ; studied law under Kasson Park- 
hurst at Lawrenceville and was admitted to the bar in 1859. He was a 
successful school teacher from 1860 to 1873. He practiced law at Miller- 
ton, Tioga County, from 1873 till his death, and during all that time was 
a successful Sunday school superintendent. He was a man of strictest 
integrity — a great peacemaker among his neighbors and was trusted and 
beloved by all who knew him. 

Col. Robert T. Wood, bom in Otsego Co., N. Y., February 2nd, 1830. 
Graduated from Wilson Academy, Niagara County, N. Y. Studied law 
under Hon. James Lowrey at Wellsboro and in 1853 was admitted to the 
bar. Entered the Union army August, 1861, as Captain of Co. L, second 
Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry, which he recruited, and 
served till October 4th, 1862, when disability compelled him to resign 
his commission. On Sept. 14, 1864, he re-entered the service as Captain 
of Company H, Two Hundred and Seventh Regiment, Pennsylvania Vol- 
unteers, which he recruited, Was promoted to the rank of Major, March 
25th, 1865, and on June 7th following was mustered out as Lieutenant- 
Colonel. Was postmaster of Elkland borough four years ; was a close 
reader of the best authors ; took great interest in the Grand Army of 
the Republic as a means of keeping ahve the spirit of true patriotism. 

Jefferson Harrison was bom at Wellsboro, July 24th, 1838. Was edu- 
cated in the common schools and the Wellsboro Academy. Studied law 
under the Hon. Henry Sherwood and was admitted to the bar in 1864. 
Located in Wellsboro, where he practiced continuously till his death. 
He was secretary and treasurer of the Wellsboro Water Company and 
to him more than any one else the people are indebted for the blessing of 
pure water. He succeeded Hon. Henry Sherwood as President of the 
Pine Creek Railway and was always prominently connected with the inter- 
ests of the Magee estate in this and adjoining counties. He was a safe 
counselor, a profound lawyer and honest to the core. He weighed his 
words well and never gave a legal opinion until he knew whereof he 
spoke by conscientious investigation and reflection. 

Henry W. Roland was born in Delmar township, Tioga County, Pa., 
and educated in the common schools of the county. Studied law under 
Hon. William A. Stone and was admitted to the bar in 1876. Located at 
Blossburg, where he practiced his profession until his death a few years 
later. 

Wallace Pulaski Ryon, a son of Judge John Ryon, was bom July 18th, 
1836, at Elkland, Pa. He received a liberal education and later studied 
law with his brother, Hon. John W. Ryon, and was admitted to the Tioga 
County bar in 1861. After practicing one year at Tamaqua he joined his 
brother in practice at Pottsville until 1869. During the next three years 



130 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

he was cashier of the Pennsylvania National Bank of Pottsville, and in 
1873 was president of the Merchants' Exchange Bank of that city. From 
1879 to 1882 Mr. Ryon was engaged in the coal and iron trade in Phila- 
delphia, after which he resumed the practice of his profession at Law- 
renceville, his early home. 

Hon. M. F. Elliott was born in Tioga County, September 4th, 1840. 
Studied law in the office of Hon. James Lowrey and Hon. S. F. Wilson 
at Wellsboro ; was admitted to the bar in 1862. He practiced at Wells- 
boro and in the adjoining counties till his appointment as general counsel 
for the Standard Oil Company, when he removed to New York city, 
where he has since resided. He was elected a delegate to the Constitu- 
tional Convention in 1872. In 1882 he was elected Congressman-at-Large. 
His diligent study combined with his varied experience at the bar placed 
him in the front rank of the leading and progressive lawyers of this Com- 
monwealth. 

Clark W. Beach was born at Dryden, N. Y. Studied under Henry 
Sherwood and was admitted to the bar of Tioga County in 1865. Located 
at Westfield where he has since continuously practiced. He is now and 
has been for many years extensively engaged in farming, stock raising 
and dairying. He owns and carries on several of the best farms near 
Westfield. Mr. Beach has read extensively of the best literature as well 
as law. Has a good legal mind. Is a safe lawyer and above all a peace- 
inaker, and enjoys the confidence of the community where he lives. 

Hugh Young was born in County Down, Ireland, and came to the New 
World at the age of seventeen and settled in the wilds of Potter County. 
Studied law under Hon. John S. Mann. He represented the New York 
Tribune in the border warfare of Kansas, and was a delegate from that 
territory to the first National Republican Convention at Philadelphia. 
He was editor and publisher of the Wellsboro Agitator from 1858 to 1862; 
and was postmaster of Wellsboro from 1861 to 1865. Was elected to the 
State House of Representatives and resigned at the end of the session. 
In 1877 he was appointed National Bank Examiner and served the gov- 
ernment in that capacity for twenty-five years. He never took up the 
active practice of law. He is now President of the Federal National 
Bank of Pittsburg and of the Tioga County Savings & Trust Company of 
Wellsboro, Pennsylvania. 

Norman H. Ryan was born at Lawrenceville, Tioga County, Pa., De- 
cember 1st, 1839. Received his preliminary education in the common 
schools. Spent three years at Geneseo, N. Y., and was graduated from 
Union College, N. Y., in 1860. Studied law under Messrs. Lowrey and 
Wilson in Wellsboro and later under Hon. John W. Guernsey at Tioga, 
and was admitted to the bar April 4th, 1863. Practiced for a time at 
Amboy, 111., and while there he was prosecuting and city attorney and 
served one term in the State Legislature. Removed to Bloomington, 
111., and practiced there until 1882, when he returned to Lawrenceville. 
Later he settled in Wellsboro, where he has since practiced. Mr. Ryan 



THE BAR OF TIOGA COUNTY. 131 

has a good legal mind, and presents both facts and law with clearness 
and force. He has great forensic ability. 

Darius L. Deane was born in Delmar township, Tioga County,, Fa.,, 
January 22nd, 1840. Was educated in the common schools and the Wells- 
boro Academy and by his father, Erastus P. Deane, who was an accom-- 
plished surveyor and mathematician. Enlisted in Company H, First Bat-- 
talion, Pa. Volunteers, in 1863, and later re-enlisted as a private in Com-- 
pany K, 207th Regiment, Pa. Volunteers, and was honorably discharged^ 
June 23rd, 1865, with the rank of Sergeant Major. He participated in 
the re-capture of Fort Steadman. At the charge on Petersburg he was 
severely wounded ; his left arm was shattered by a bullet that lodged in 
his left breast. As a result of this the arm had to be amputated near 
the shoulder. He was three times elected Register and Recorder and 
Clerk of the Orphans' Court and served from 1867 to 1875, both inclusive,, 
and was a model officer. Studied law under Elliott & Watrous and was 
admitted to the bar in 1878. He has continuously practiced his pro- 
fession at Wellsboro and followed surveying, in which profession he 
stands very high. His early years with his father were an excellent 
preparation. He is a safe counselor and his service as Clerk of the 
Orphans' Court has, with his studious habits, familiarized him with the. 
law of inheritances. He has a lucrative practice especially in that 
department. 

George W. Merrick, a son of Israel Merrick and grandson of Israel 
Merrick, the elder, (one of Wellsboro's pioneer citizens) was born in 
Wellsboro March 27th, 1838, and has since continuously lived there except 
while in the army. He attended the common schools and the Wellsboro 
Academy ; but his education came largely from a careful study of the 
best authors ; by keeping abreast of the best current literature and by 
the experience that came of four years' active participation in the war 
for the Union. In 1861 he enlisted as a private in Company H, Sixth 
Regiment, Pennsylvania Reserves, and took part in the battle of Drains- 
ville. Peninsular campaign and the second battle of Bull Run. Ill health 
necessitated his discharge in 1862. Soon after he was chosen Captain of 
a company of six months' men for the First Battalion, Pennsylvania Vol- 
unteers, which he had recruited and re-enlisted. At the expiration of 
six months he recruited for three years' service what became Company 
A, 187th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, and again entered the ser- 
vice. Was promoted to the rank of Major at Cold Harbor at the unan- 
imous request of the line officers of the regiment. A wound receiv- 
ed at the battle of Petersburg July 18th, 1864, necessitated the amputa- 
tion of his right leg and his return home. As a recognition of his devo- 
tion to duty, his bravery as a soldier and his sacrifices for his country he; 
was tendered promotion and staff service, but being incapacitated for- 
actual service in the field he preferred to return to civil life. He went, 
into that conflict an enthusiastic, patriotic schoolboy. He came out a 
full grown man, broadened, tempered and quickened by those years ol 



132 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

terrible experience. The writer remembers well the change that exper- 
ience had wrought in his former schoolfellow when he first met him on 
his return. He began the study of the law under the late Justice Wil- 
liams, and completed his preliminary course under William H. Smith ; 
was admitted to the bar in February , 1869, and immediately formed a 
partnership with his preceptor, Mr. Smith, which continued until the lat- 
ter removed to North Carolina. Just prior to his admission he was 
appointed postmaster at Wellsboro and served till June 14th, 1882, when 
he resigned to accept the nomination by the Independent Republicans for 
the office of Secretary of Internal Affairs. Mr. Merrick has practiced 
continuously in Wellsboro since his admission ; and by devotion to his pro- 
fession has won a place in the front rank thereof. He has an analytical 
mind, a genius for hard methodical work and is well versed in the science 
of the law. His oath of fidelity to the Court is never obscured by his 
desire for success. His arguments to a jury consist of a compre- 
hensive but fair analysis of the evidence. His efforts are to convince 
by legitimate argument, never to mislead. His legal arguments are 
logical and to the point and always the result of careful preparation. His 
efforts are to assist the Court to a correct conclusion and not for tem- 
porary advantage. All this has brought him success as a lawyer and with 
it the esteem and confidence of both bench and bar. 

William A. Stone was born in Delmar township, Tioga County, Penn- 
sylvania, April 18th, 1846. Attended the common schools of iiis native 
jplace in the winter, and worked on his father's farm summers till his 
17th year, when he enlisted as a private in Company A, 187th Pennsyl- 
'vania Volunteer Infantry, and served till the war closed. Was promoted 
"to Second Lieutenancy for meritorious service in his eighteenth year. 
Active participation in that drama which made a hero of many another 
farmer boy awakened longings for greater opportunities. Was gradu- 
ated from the Mansfield State Normal School after several years of hard, 
conscientious, earnest work. Then followed the usual experience of 
American boys of his make. Teaching school, studying law and in other 
ways disciplining his mind and preparing him for that life of usefulness 
and honorable success that seemed his by inheritance. Studied law 
under Messrs. Wilson and Niles and was admitted to the bar of Tioga 
County in September, 1870. Commenced practice in Wellsboro and was 
elected District Attorney in 1874. Served two years and resigned. Mov- 
ed to Pittsburg in 1877, where he soon took high rank as a lawyer. Was 
appointed United States District Attorney for the Western District of 
Pennsylvania and served with distinction till 1886, when he was removed 
by President Cleveland because he had the manly independence to advo- 
cate the election of General Beaver as Governor. Was nominated for 
Congress in 1890. Thomas M. Bayne, the nominee of the convention, 
declined. Before adjourning Mr. Stone was nominated by acclamation. 
This method of nomination provoked considerable criticism. He declined 
the nomination given him by the convention and appealed to the people. 



THE BAR OF TIOGA COUNTY. 133 

After a spirited contest he was nominated by the people of the district 
and elected. Was re-nominated and elected three times, each time by 
increased majorities. His ability and worth were immediately recognized 
and he rapidly came to the front as a man to be trusted on all matters 
that concerned the welfare of the Republic. In 1898 he resigned his seat 
in Congress to accept the Republican nomination for Governor, to which 
office he was elected and served the full term. The following excerpt 
from his letter of acceptance gives his true character: " It will be my 
purpose while Governor of Pennsylvania as it has been my purpose in 
the public positions I have held with God's help to discharge my whole 
duty. The people are greater than the parties to which they belong. I 
am only jealous of their favor. I shall only attempt to win their approval 
and my experience has taught me that that can best be done by an honest, 
modest daily discharge of public duty. ' ' At the expiration of his term as 
Governor he immediately resumed practice in Pittsburg with signal and 
well merited success. His ability, industry and wide experience have 
given him a place in the front rank of the leading lawyers of the State. 

Charles Tubbs was born in Tioga County, July 11th, 1843. As a boy 
he was fond of books and acquired a thorough academic education and at 
the age of seventeen spent one year in teaching, his last engagement 
being at the Wellsboro Academy. Continuing his studies at Alfred 
University, he, in 1863, was prepared to enter the senior class in Union 
College at Schenectady, N. Y., where he was graduated in the class of 
1864. Three years later he was graduated from the law department of 
the University of Michigan, and immediately after was admitted to the bar 
of Tioga County. During the session of 1869 he served as transcribing 
clerk in the lower house of the State Legislature. He presided over the 
Republican County convention in 1876 and 1878, took an active part in 
the political campaign of the two following years, and in 1880 was elect- 
ed to the State Legislature, where, during the session of 1881, he render- 
ed efficient service on the judiciary, elections, federal relations and judi- 
cial apportionment committees. He was re-elected to the General Assem- 
bly in 1882. He also represented his County in the Republican State . 
Conventions of 1879, 1883 and 1891, and wields a strong influence in 
the councils of his party. While largely interested in matters outside of 
his profession he is also a thoroughly trained lawyer. Is especially well 
versed in the law relating to inheritances and his services are much 
sought after in the settlement of estates. He has been continuously 
since it opened a very useful member of the board of managers of the 
State Hospital at Blossburg. 

Hon. Horace B. Packer was born at Wellsboro, Pa., where he attend- 
ed the common school and the Wellsboro Academy. Later he pursued a 
course of study at AlAred University. He studied law under Messrs. 
Wilson and Niles, and was admitted to the bar of Tioga County August 
26th, 1873. Was appointed District Attorney in response to a petition 
signed by every member of the bar, on the resignation of William A. 



134 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

Stone. At the end of the term he was elected and served a full term 
very successfully. He was elected to the State Legislature in 1884, and 
Te-elected in 1886. In 1888 he was elected to the State Senate, where he 
served a full term of four years. He was a leader in both House and 
Senate and rendered important service both in debate and on committees. 
He is the author of the Civil Procedure Act of 1887. That Act simplified 
practice and consigned to oblivion those absurdities that had for generations 
made special pleading a maze of circuities. The opposition to it was long 
and bitter, but the experience of years has justified him and the Act is 
a monument to his ability as a lawyer and his judgment as a practitioner. 
In 1896 he was elected to Congress and re-elected in 1898. His record as 
a pubHc servant is distinguished for honesty, earnestness and efficiency. 

John W. Mather was born in Dundee, N. Y., November 5th, 1847. 
His family removed to Lawrenceville, this county, where he passed his 
boyhood. He there assisted his father in the manufacture of fanning 
mills and attended the common schools. Was graduated from the Mans- 
field State Normal School in 1871 and taught for some time. Studied 
law under Messrs. Elliott & Bosard and was admitted to the bar in 1873. 
He has since very successfully practiced in Wellsboro. Later he 
was admitted to the bar of the adjoining counties and in 1881 was admit- 
ted to the Supreme Court. Served two years as Deputy U. S. Marshal 
for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Was elected District Attorney 
in 1886 and served very acceptably the full term of three years. 

Henry M. Foote was born in Chenango County, N. Y., in 1846. Was 
educated in the common schools and the Wellsboro Academy. In 1864 
while a student at the Academy he enlisted in the 187th Pennsylvania 
Volunteers and served until the close of the war. On his return studied 
law under Hon. John I. Mitchell; was admitted to the bar February 6th, 
1876, and practiced his profession in Wellsboro until 1889. Was elected 
District Attorney in 1880 and served a full term with success. Elected 
to the State House of Representatives in 1884 and re-elected in 1886 and 
took an active part in the proceedings of these sessions. In 1889 was 
appointed an assistant to the Attorney General in the Department of 
Justice at Washington, D. C, and served till 1893. Immediately upon 
leaving the department he opened an office in Washington and by dili- 
gence and good judgment has secured a lucrative practice. He lives in 
Wellsboro during the summer. 

Francis E. Watrous was born in Broome County, New York, April 
4th, 1851. His parents removed into the Pine Creek wilderness when he 
was but a few weeks old. He has since continuously resided in Tioga 
County. His early life was spent farming and lumbering — mainly the 
latter. While yet a boy he was a successful lumberman. He studied 
law at Knoxville for a time and later entered the office of Hon. M. F. 
Elliott in Wellsboro, from which he was admitted to the bar in 1876. He 
formed a partnership with Mr. EUiott in 1879, which continued till 1900, 
when he became the head of the firm of Watrous, Marsh & Channell. His 



THE BAR OF TIOGA COUNTY. 135 

practice in office work is large. While he has been successful in court 
work his preference is for counsel rather than advocacy. He is espec- 
ially well versed in the laws relating to corporations and inheritances and 
many corporations and estates are his clients. His business ability is 
exceptional. His clear insight enables him to grasp and solve business 
problems however intricate and involved. That faculty together with his 
promptness to act has given him a wide reputation for the successful 
management of those complex affairs that require a knowledge of both 
law and business for their successful administration. 

Daniel W. Baldwin was born in Lawrence township, Tioga County, 
Pa. Educated in the common schools aaid was graduated from the Mans- 
field State Normal School. Studied law under the Hon. Henry Sher- 
wood and was admitted to the bar in 1883. Immediately opened an office 
at Westfield, Tioga County, where he has since continuously practiced. 
Is an industrious, careful student and prepares his cases thoroughly. 
Has a lucrative and rapidly growing practice. His efforts for his client 
never obscure his obligation to the Court. He presents facts to a jury 
in a clear, logical, convincing manner. His legal arguments are brief 
but comprehensive and always upon the questions involved. Has a good 
legal mind. Is devoted to his profession and has won a place in the front 
rank thereof. 

S. Fowler Channell was bom at Canton, Bradford County, Pa., No- 
vember 1st, 1848. After completing his preliminary studies he attended 
Lafayette College two years. Studied law under Hon. Henry Sherwood 
and was admitted to the bar in January, 1880. Commenced practice in 
Wellsboro and in 1884 entered into partnership with Henry M. Foote 
under the firm name of Foote & Channell, which continued until Mr. 
Foote removed to Washington in the fall of 1889. He practiced alone 
until 1900 when he formed a partnership with Francis E. Watrous and 
Howard F. Marsh under the firm name of Watrous, Marsh & Channell. By 
devotion to his profession he had secured a lucrative practice before 
entering into this partnership. Since then he has been active both in the 
office and court work of the firm. The business of the firm is varied, 
extensive and lucrative. The members are admirable complements of 
each other, and taken together make an all-round successful firm. 

Walter Sherwood was born in Wellsboro, Tioga County, November 
1st, 1843. He received a good academic education and taught one year 
in the Wellsboro Academy and served one year as principal of the high 
school. He received his legal training under his father, the Hon. Henry 
Sherwood, and after his admission to the bar in 1867, became associated 
with him under the firm name of Henry Sherwood & Son. This partner- 
ship continued until 1888, when his father retired and he formed with 
Edward H. Owlett the firm of Sherwood & Owlett. The practice of this firm 
has been both extensive and remunerative. Served as Burgess and Council- 
man many years and gave freely of his time and services in improving 
and beautifying his native place. 



136 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

John S. Ryon was born in Nelson township, Tioga County, Pa., Jan- 
uary 4th, 1847. Educated in the Osceola High School and the Mansfield 
State Normal School. Studied law under George W. Merrick and was 
admitted to the bar in 1877. He located at Elkland where he has since 
practiced. Has given much attention to local business enterprises and 
was postmaster at Elkland during President Cleveland's administration. 
Hon. Walter T. Merrick was born in Charleston township, Tioga 
County, Pa., June 2d, 1859. He was graduated from Grammar School 
No. 2, in the city of Elmira; took a course at the Elmira Academy and 
later at the Mansfield State Normal School. Studied dentistry and prac- 
ticed for a time at Blossburg. In 1881 he began the study of law under 
Hon. Charles H. Seymour at Tioga. In 1885 he entered the office of 
Merrick & Young in Wellsboro and completed his course of study; was 
admitted to the bar in 1886. He returned to Blossburg and commenced 
practice. In 1892 he was elected to the State House of Representatives 
and re-elected in 1896; in the latter year was elected to the Senate of 
Pennsylvania. During all his term of public service he was a leading 
spirit both in committee room and on the floor. At the close of his Sen- 
atorial term he was appointed Naval Officer of the Port of Philadelphia. 
His administration was so acceptable that he was re-appointed without 
opposition and still fills the place. 

Charles H. CorneHus was born in Aldenville, Wayne County, N. Y., 
May 4th, 1870. Removed to Elkland, Tioga County, with his parents 
when he was a child. Educated at the Elkland high school and took a 
classical course in the Genessee Wesleyan Seminary and graduated in 
1889. Studied law under Messrs. Merrick & Young and was admitted to 
the bar December, 1896. Located at Tioga soon after his admis^on 
where he has since continuously practiced in the office occupied for many 
years by the late Frederick E. Smith and later by Hon. F. B. Smith and 
succeeds to the law and insurance business of the latter. 

Edward H. Owlett was born in Tioga County, November 22d, 1859. 
Passed his boyhood on his father's farm in Chatham township, where he 
attended the common schools and later took a course at the State Nor- 
mal School at Lockhaven. Was a successful teacher for three years. 
Studied law in the office of Henry Sherwood & Son. In April, 1888, was 
admitted to the bar and soon after, on the retirement stf Hon. Henry 
Sherwood, formed a partnership wfth Walter Sherwood under the firm 
name of Sherwood & Owlett. The firm has a large and lucrative prac- 
tice. Mr. Owlett was elected District Attorney and served with distinc- 
tion from 1892 to 1895. He has a discriminating mind, sees readily the 
salient points in his case and presents them briefly, but with force and 
clearness. He is an industrious and methodical student, safe in counsel 
and successful in practice. 

Howard F. Marsh was born at Marshlands, Tioga County, Pa. , Jan- 
uary 5th, 1854. Studied law under Messrs. Elliott & Watrous, and was 
admitted to the bar September 3d, 1877. He is the author of "Marsh's 



THE BAR OF TIOGA COUNTY. 137 

Constable's Guide," which was published in 1881. In February, 1882, he 
removed to Towanda, Bradford County, Pa., and purchased a half inter- 
est in the Bradford Reporter, a weekly newspaper published at that 
place. January 1st, 1885, consolidated it with the Towanda Journal, both 
being: merged in the Bradford Reporter-Journal, of which he was editor 
until January, 1898. In December, 1898, he removed to New York City, 
where he became a correspondent of the Philadelphia Public Ledger. In 
1897 he returned to Wellsboro and formed a partnership with Hon. M. F. 
Elliott and Francis E. Watrous under the firm name of Elliott, Watrous 
& Marsh, which continued until 1900, when he became a member of the 
present firm of Watrous, Marsh & Channell. He is an active, earnest, 
careful lawyer, and has achieved well merited success. His legal argu- 
ments are brief but pointed, and bring to the attention of the Court in 
few words the questions involved. 

Alfred J. Shattuck was born in Corning, N. Y., October 2d, 1859. He 
removed with his parents to Blossburg, in this county, some years later 
and has since been continuously a resident of the county. Was graduated 
from Lafayette College in 1881. Studied law under Messrs. Elliott & 
Watrous and was admitted to the bar August 26th, 1884, since which 
time he has practiced in Wellsboro. He has read extensively of the best 
authors besides being a diligent student of the law. His legal papers 
show the work of a scholarly, painstaking, well read lawyer. His legal 
advice is given after careful, conscientious examination of the subject 
matter and mature deliberation. Is especially well versed in the law re- 
lating to the titles to land. This led to his employment by the Com- 
monwealth in the purchase of lands iti this and adjoining counties, where 
he rendered valuable service. He has a good paying office business and 
prefers counsel to advocacy. 

William L. Shearer was bom in Wellsboro, October 8th, 1861; was 
graduated from the Wellsboro high school in 1881. Studied law under 
Hon. Henry W. Williams and was admitted to the bar of Tioga County 
April 5th, 1885, and practiced in Wellsboro about six months. In Novem- 
ber, 1886, he purchased an interest in the Republican Advocate, and has 
gives his entire time to the editorial department of that paper. He be- 
came the sole owner by the purchase of James Matson's interest in 1891. 
Mr. Shearer has given his time and efforts without stint to make the 
paper a moral force and has succeeded. He is a strong, forceful writer 
and has brought the editorial department up to high standard. He has 
spent his whole life in Wellsboro. 

Aaron R. Niles was born in Middlebury township, Tioga County, Pa., 
October 3d, 1860. Came with his parents to Wellsboro in 1865. Was 
graduated from the Wellsboro high school and spent one year at Lafay- 
ette College. Studied law under his father, the late Hon. Jerome B. 
Niles, and was admitted to the bar in 1884; formed a partnership with his 
father in the practice of the law which continued till the latter assumed the 
office of President Judge of the fourth judicial district. Mr. Niles is an 



138 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

accomplished surveyor and much of his time has been given to it. Is 
prompt, energetic and industrious. Is now engaged in the improvement 
and management of the extensive Niles celery farm. 

Harvey B. Leach was born in Chatham township, Tioga county. May 
20th, 1860. His paternal grandfather, Dr. Harvey Leach, was one of 
the early settlers and pioneer physicians of that township. Harvey B. 
passed his boyhood on his father's farm doing the work usual to boys 
similarly circumstanced. Here he attended the common schools and in 
1883 was graduated from the Mansfield State Normal School. He taught 
for a time in his native township. Studied law under Henry Sherwood 
& Son and was admitted to the bar in 1886, practicing his profession for 
a short time in Wellsboro. Removed to Blossburg where he built up a 
lucrative practice. He was District Attorney from January 1st, 1890, 
to January 1st, 1893, and discharged the duties of the office very accept- 
ably. He resumed practice in Wellsboro in 1897. He is an indefatigable 
worker, a good thinker and applies readily the principles gathered by 
diligent research to cases that clients bring him. These qualities give 
him well deserved success. 

Ezra B. Young was born in Springfield township, Bradford County, 
Pa., October 24th, 1846. Was educated in the common schools of his 
native County, at the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute at Towanda, Pa., 
and was graduated from the Mansfield State Normal School in 1868. Was 
a successful teacher for some years. Studied law under Hon. John I. 
Mitchell at Wellsboro, where he has since continuously resided. Was 
admitted to the bar April 6th, 1874, and to the United States District 
and Circuit Courts in June, 1880. Since his admission he has devoted 
much of his time to insurance, lumbering and mercantile business. Is 
now and has been for some time Justice of the Peace. Is well versed in 
elementary law and on account of his fairness and good judgment acts as 
auditor and examiner in many cases. 

James R. Butler was bom in Delmar township about one mile north 
of Wellsboro, June 20th, 1852. Was educated in the public schools to 
some extent but mostly by careful study of the best authors by himself. 
By the latter he acquired a good English education. Studied law at 
Knoxville under Henry A. Ashton and was admitted to the bar July 3d, 
1899. Has practiced continuously since admission at that place. ' 

Robert Kennedy Young was born in Wellsboro, June 14, 1861. Was 
educated in the common schools of his native place and of Concord, N. H. 
Studied law under Geo. W. Merrick in Wellsboro, and on his admission to 
the bar in August, 1884, formed a partnership with his preceptor which still 
continues under the firm name of Merrick & Young. He spent some time in 
traveling in Europe, not omitting to visit Killyliagh, County Down, Ireland, 
the birthplace of his father, Hon. Hugh Young. Served two sessions in the 
State Legislature, where he took high rank as a legislator, debater and 
leader. Has acted on committees of investigation for the State Adminis- 
tration. His reports are both exhaustive and fair. As counsel for the 



THE BAR OF TIOGA COUNTY. 139 

Capitol Building Commission he has rendered the Commonwealth valuable 
service. Organized and has since continuously managed the Wellsboro 
Electric Company. Is a discriminating reader and is conversant with the 
best English literature. As a lawyer he is a close, methodical student of 
the law as a science, and readily applies principles to cases as they are 
presented to him. Is especially versed in the law governing corporations. 
His arguments both to Court and jury are brief, comprehensive and 
logical. He is a safe counselor and devoted to his profession, in which 
he has taken high rank as a progressive all round lawyer. 

John W. Adams was born in Tioga township, February 8th, 1843. His 
parents settled in Mansfield about 1855, where he spent the remainder of his 
life. Was educated in the public schools and the Normal School at Mansfield. 
Studied law under Henry Allen and was admitted to the bar in 1866. He 
was for a time a trustee and stockholder of the Normal School and was 
always a firm advocate of progressive education. He was a careful 
business lawyer and had a good income from his practice and business 
ventures. He died February 19, 1906. 

Leon S. Channell was born in Canton, Bradford County, May 23d, 1868. 
Was graduated from Canton high school in 1890, studied law in Wellsboro 
under his brother, S. F. Channell, and was admitted to the bar in 1893. 
In 1895 he located at Mansfield, where he has since practiced his profession. 
He is a trustee of the Mansfield State Normal School and takes great 
interest in its success. 

Frank W. Clark was born in Richmond township, Tioga County, Aug- 
ust 21st, 1839. Was educated at the public school at Mansfield, the 
Wellsboro Academy and Mansfield Classical Seminary, (now the Mans- 
field State Normal School.) Studied law under Hon. Henry Sherwood 
at Wellsboro and was admitted to the bar in 1866. Has practiced con- 
tinuously at Manaifield. Has conducted some very important trials and 
for a good many years has been counsel for that borough. His legal 
opinions are based upon a careful examination of the law bearing upon 
the questions involved and are generally sustained when subjected to 
judicial decision. 

Frederick B. Smith was born at Tioga borough, Tioga County, Pa., 
April 3d, 1863. Was educated in the high school of that place and the 
Cascadilla Preparatory School and Cornell University at Ithaca, N. Y. 
He was graduated from the Columbia Law School, New York city, in 
1888. Was elected to the State House of Representatives in 1896 and 
re-elected in 1898. While he did not occupy a great deal of the time of the 
House in advocacy he rendered important service in the committee room 
and was ever watchful of the public interests. He practiced his profession at 
Tioga until he went to Blossburg in active management of the Miners' 
National Bank. His training in commercial law under his father was a 
good preparation for this work. The institution is very prosperous under 
his administration. 

Andrew B. Dunsmore was born in Morris Run, Tioga County, Pa. 



140 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

January 4th, 1866. Educated in the common school and was graduated 
from the Mansfield State Normal School in 1884 ; later took a scientific 
course there. Was principal of the public schools at Arnot for two 
years. Studied law under Messrs. Mitchell & Cameron, and was ad- 
mitted to the bar in 1889. Has since practiced continuously in Wells- 
boro. Elected District Attorney in 1895 and re-elected in 1898 and served 
with distinction two full terms. Was elected to the State House of Rep- 
resentatives in 1904. As District Attorney he was a model criminal 
pleader. His indictments were brief but always charged the offence 
clearly and sufficiently, and were invariably sustained when attacked. 
As a legislator he was earnest and industrious in committee, effective 
and forceful in the advocacy of measures that he believed to be right, 
and always true to the best interests of his constituents. He is a safe 
counselor, a good trial lawyer and by industry and good judgment has 
won an honorable place in his profession. 

WiUiam M. Kehler was born in Lockhaven, Clinton County, Pa., 
October 7th, 1864 ; was educated in the Williamsport Commercial College 
and graduated from the Mansfield State Normal School in 1893. Studied 
law under Messrs. Sherwood & Owlett and was admitted to the bar of 
this county in 1896. Located at Blossburg where he has since practiced. 
By industry and careful attention he has built up a good legal and insur- 
ance business. Is a careful student and devoted to the interests of 
his clients. 

Frank H. Rockwell was born March 3d, 1865, in Cherry Flats, Tioga 
County. Was educated in the public schools and the Wellsboro high 
school, was a successful teacher for several years. Studied law under 
Messrs. Elliott & Watrous and was admitted to the bar in 1891 and imme- 
diately opened an ofRce in Wellsboro where he has since practiced. He 
was elected District Attorney in 1891 without opposition and served 
acceptably a full term. He was an earnest and vigorous prosecutor when 
he thought the case warranted vigorous measures but was too fair and sym- 
pathetic to try to win unless he thought he should. He has a growing, 
lucrative business and with it the confidence of the community, as well 
as of the bench and bar. 

H. L. Baldwin was born in Medina, Ohio, September 9th, 1845. At- 
tended the Franklin Institute in Cooperstown, N. Y., and was graduated 
at the Mansfield State Normal School. Studied law under Frederick B. 
Smith and was admitted to the bar in 1880. Located at Tioga where he 
has since practiced. Has been Justice of the Peace many years. 

John T. Gear was born at Pittsford, N. Y., October 4th, 1854. Was 
admitted to the bar of Potter County, Pa., in 1879, and to the bar of 
Tioga County in 1881. Located at Knoxville where he practiced for some 
time. Later he moved to a Western State. 

John H. Putnam was born in Essex County, N. Y., November 28th, 
1847. His parents removed to Tioga borough, Tioga County, when he 
was two years old. Was educated in the common schools and the Tioga 



THE BAR OF TIOGA COUNTY. 141 

high school. Stvidied law under Hon. John W. Guernsey and was admit- 
ted to the bar of Tioga County in 1892. He has since continuously prac- 
ticed in Tioga borough where by close attention he has secured a good 
practice. 

Harry N. Sherwood was born at Wellsboro, January 1st, 1871. Was 
educated in the Wellsboro high school. After spending some years in 
the office of Sherwood & Owlett as a clei'k he took up the study of law 
and was admitted to the bar in May, 1896. He continues to practice his 
profession with the firm. 

Alfred J. Niles was born at Wellsboro, November 27th, 1866. He 
was graduated from the Wellsboro high school and studied law under his 
father, Hon. Jerome B. Niles. Graduated from the Harvard law school 
in 1891 and was admitted to the bar in 1892. Located at Pittsburg in 
1894 and was appointed a state bank examiner. In 1895 was appointed 
Assistant City Solicitor of the city of Pittsburg. He is now practicing 
in that city. 

Hugh B. Strang was born at Westfield, Tioga County, Pa. Got his 
preliminary education in the common schools and was graduated from 
the Syracuse University. Studied law under Daniel W. Baldwin, Esq., 
and was admitted to the bar in September, 1902. Located at Westfield 
where he has since continuously practiced and is building up a good 
business. 

Herbert D. Shove was born in the city of Elmira, N. Y., October 1st, 
1879. Removed to Wellsboro with his parents in 1896. Was graduated 
from the Wellsboro high school in 1899. Enlisted in Company K, Fifth 
Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry in July, 1898, and served till 
November of that year. Studied law under Watrous, Marsh & Channell. 
Spent one year in the law department of the University of Pennsylvania 
and was admitted to the bar in 1901. He located in Wellsboro where he 
has since practiced. He is studious, has a good legal mind and does well 
what he undertakes. 

Colin B. Clark was born in Sullivan township, Tioga County, May 2d, 
1861. Attended the common schools of his native county and was gradu- 
ated from the Mansfield State Normal School in 1883. Was principal of 
the Covington borough high school for some years and later principal of 
the high school at Antrim. He was a successful teacher for twelve 
years. Studied law under Sherwood & Owlett and was admitted to the 
bar in June, 1900. Immediately located at Wellsboro where he has since 
continuously practiced. He has a good insurance business and is secre- 
tary of the Wellsboro Building & Loan Association and has given much 
attention to the laws governing those subjects. 

Leon B. Ferry was born in Keeneyville, Tioga County, August 3d, 
1867. Was graduated from Mansfield State Normal School in 1891. 
Pursued the study of the law in the office of Hon. M. F. Elliott at Wells- 
boro. Was admitted to the bar of Tioga County June 1st, 1895, where 
he has since practiced his profession. He was appointed Referee in 



142 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

Bankruptcy on the passage of the bankrupt law, which office he still 
holds. His decisions in that line of work are held in very high esteem 
both by the bar and the courts in bankruptcy. 

Frank S. Hughes was born in Liberty township, Tioga County, Pa., 
May 9th, 1873. Educated in the public schools of Blossburg and the 
Mansfield State Normal School. Studied law under Harvey B. Leach 
and was admitted to the bar of Tioga County in 1896, located in 
Blossburg where he has since practiced. Was admitted to the Su- 
preme and Superior Courts of Pennsylvania and to the United States 
District and Circuit Courts. Was elected District Attorney in 1904 and 
is now serving very acceptably. By devotion to his profession he has 
secured a good practice and is deservedly successful. 

Chas. L. Peck studied law under Hon. M. F. Elliott at Wellsboro. 
Was admitted to the bar and practiced his profession at Knoxvllle for a 
time. He removed to Coudersport, Potter County, where he has built up 
a lucrative practice. 

Henry A. Ashton was born in Tioga County, Pa., August 27th, 1860. 
Educated in the common school at Elkland and the Wellsboro high 
school. Studied law under J. T. Gear at Knoxville and later under C. L. 
Peck at Coudersport and was admitted to the bar of Potter County. He 
removed to Knoxville where he has since practiced his profession. He is 
energetic and industrious and has keen business judgment. All this has 
secured to him a lucrative practice to which he is devoted. 

Frank D. Selph was bom in Ash, Monroe County, Michigan, March 
1st, 1862. Removed to this county and was educated in the common 
schools and at Mansfield State Normal School. Studied law under John S. 
Ryon and since his admission has practiced his profession at Elkland. He 
is careful, studious and industrious and gives to his clients his best efforts. 
He is in the enjoyment of a good practice. 

Ernest H. Green was born in Middlebury township, Tioga County, 
Pa., December 15th, 1874. He was educated in the common schools of 
his native county and graduated from the Mansfield State Normal School 
and later attended State College. He was a successful teacher for five 
years. This work laid the foundation for that thoroughness that has 
characterized his professional life. He studied law under Hon. Jerome 
B. Niles and was admitted to the bar in 1902, since which time he has 
practiced his profession at Wellsboro. 

Norman B. Leslie was born in Middlebury township, Tioga County, 
Pa., May 13th, 1878. Was educated in the common schools and gradu- 
ated from the Wellsboro high school; taught school with great success in 
his native county. He studied law in the office of Sherwood & Owlett 
and was admitted to the bar of Tioga County April 12th, 1901, at Wells- 
boro, where he has since practiced his profession. 

Harry E. Bodine was born at Morris, Pa., August 31st, 1878; educated 
at Wellsboro and at the Mansfield State Normal School where he gradu- 
ated from the college preparatory department in 1901. Began the study 



THE BAR OF TIOGA COUNTY. 143 

of law in the office of Merrick & Young and was admitted to the bar 
October 14th, 1903. He is located at Lawrenceville in the practice of his 
profession. 

Chester H. Ashton was admitted to the bar in January, 1905, and en- 
tered into partnership with his father, Henry A. Ashton, at Knoxville, 
as H. A. & C. H. Ashton. The firm is doing a successful business. 

James H. Matson was bom in Delmar, Pa., admitted to the bar May 
4, 1880. Practiced in Wellsboro and was District Attorney three years. 
Was a member of the firm of Matson & Shearer, publishers of the Re- 
publican Advocate, from 1886 to 1891. He died in New Haven, Conn., 
March 14, 1897. 

Victor A. Elliott was born in Charleston township, Tioga County, Pa. 
Educated in the common schools and the Wellsboro Academy. Taught 
school for some time and in 1863 was elected County Superintendent. 
Enlisted as a private and was promoted to the rank of Major of the 207th 
Regiment, Pa. Vols. Studied law under William H. Smith and was ad- 
mitted to the bar of Tioga county in 1868. Edited the Mansfield Adver- 
tiser in 1872, advocating the election of Horace Greeley to the Presidency. 
His health failing he removed to Denver, Colorado, where he took high 
rank as a lawyer. Was soon elected District Judge and later became 
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of that state, serving two terms. 
His decisions are a monument to his great ability as a jurist. 

The following named persons were admitted to the bar of Tioga County 
and practiced but a short time : 

Paul J. Edwards, now in the law department of the McCormick Har- 
vester Company and located at Syracuse, N. Y. 

Louis H. Kilbourne, now Second Lieutenant of the cavalry, U. S. 
regular army. 

James H. Bosard, now a leading member of the bar of North Dakota. 

Hon. John Ormerod, now President Judge of the 55th Judicial Dis- 
trict, comprising the county of Potter. 

Henry I. Wilson, now in active practice in Jefferson county, and re- 
cently a member of the State House of Representatives. 

J. C. Strang, now in active practice in Oklahoma, and recently Judge 
in Kansas. 

A. D. Broughton, studied under Messrs. Merrick & Young, practiced 
at Lawrenceville with good prospects of success, but died soon after 
admission. 

William H. Smith, for many years one of the leading lawyers in Den- 
ver, Colorado. 

Charles N. Kimball, for some years a member of the firm of Elliott, 
Watrous & Kimball. 

Arthur L. Bailey, now located in Penn Yan, N. Y. 

The following named persons were admitted to the bar of Tioga 
county, but never practiced in the county : 



144 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

Ernest W. Gleckler, now Cashier of the First National Bank, of 
Wellsboro, Pa. 

C. R. Richmond, now in active practice in Galeton, Potter county. Pa. 

Miss Charlotte M. Johnson, now stenographer for Watrous, Marsh & 
Channell. 

Charles L. Pattison, deceased. 

Simon B. Elliott, now living in Reynoldsville, Pa. 

George R. Mathers, now of the firm of Graves & Mathers, of Wells- 
boro, Pa. 



LUMBERING IN TIOGA COUNTY. 



BY LEONARD HARRISON. 



This important industry which for nearly a century has occupied the 
attention of a large portion of the inhabitants of our county, is now 
drawing to a close. Five years at the most will see swept from our hill- 
sides and valleys practically all of the remaining virgin forests, there be- 
ing now standing only one small body of white pine of about one million 
feet, and perhaps two hundred million of hemlock, intermixed with more 
or less maple, beech and other hardwoods. 

The entire county was originally covered with a dense growth of the 
most valuable timbers, foremost in rank being the white pine, the king 
of the eastern forest trees, and here it was found growing to perfection. 
It commonly grew three to four feet in diameter, and in some cases 
specimens were seen measuring six feet or more, which raised their tall 
heads and shoulders above the surrounding trees. It often grew to the 
height of one hundred and fifty feet or over and produced lumber adapted 
to all kinds of building purposes, and continues to this day to be a leader 
in the general lumber markets. 

At first large quantities of this timber were cut and hewn square, of 
any length and size which the tree would make. These square logs were 
made into rafts which were loaded with what was then known as long 
shingles, made from timber not suitable for hewing, and floated dur- 
ing the high water in the springtime to such markets as the stream 
led to. The then dense forests tended to hold back the moisture and 
allow it to flow off gradually, thus maintaining the high water for a con- 
siderable time. 

Enterprising men for their time erected here and there on all the 
principal streams large water-power mills to manufacture this beautiful 
timber into lumber by means of Muley and gang saws. A large product 
was manufactured in them for fully fifty years, all of which was trans- 
ported to market by water in a similar manner to the square timber pro- 
duct. The rafting of the lumber was a dangerous occupation which re- 
quired the services of skilled men who obtained high wages. The season 
was looked forward to as a harvest and men were generally ready when 
needed to man the many rafts annually set afloat. The advent of the 
steam-power circular mill, often combined with a gang, lifted the busi- 
ness of manufacturing to a higher plane. The timber adjacent to the 
streams having been cut away, the steam mills were able to locate back 
in the depths of the forest and continue the work more advantageously. 



146 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

During all this time the western part of the county was supplying large 
mills at Williamsport with logs in amount up to one hundred milliqri feet 
in a year, tending to help build there a large industrial city. Twenty 
years have passed since the last rafts of lumber floated over the Pine 
Creek waters, which we believe were owned by Charles B. Watrous, then 
a resident of Gaines township. The spring of 1905 saw the last log drive 
on the same stream. The pilot, the raftsmen and the log-floaters are no 
more. 

Next in importance among our native trees is the hemlock, once 
despised and considered an encumbrance of the ground, the old-time pine 
lumbermen dubbing the lumber manufactured from it, ' ' hemlock slivers. ' ' 
Prior to forty years ago this timber was handled only at a loss, and so 
little was it valued that timber estimators in making up their reports 
made little note of it, and where white pine was not standing the land 
was reported as barren, or at l^st valueless, and such lands were aban- 
doned by the owners and were passed to the county or new owners who 
purchased them under the law directing their sale for non-payment of 
taxes. 

With the advent of the tanning industry within our borders came a 
limited value to this timber, generally about five dollars per acre. At 
first, however, in order to obtain suflBcient bark to meet the demands of 
the tanneries, much of the hemlock timber stripped to obtain the bark 
was allowed to lie upon the ground where cut and waste, as no market 
existed warranting its manufacture into lumber and transportation. 

With the building of the railroads into the wilder portions of the 
county came the erection of the more modern, up-to-date band-saw mills, 
in which the operators have simply to touch the levers, allowing the mill 
to do the rest, turning out a superior quality of hemlock lumber to which 
the lumber trade takes kindly, realizing that it has much merit as a 
building and framing material, and which as the demand warranted, has 
advanced in price so that lumber once selling in the markets for seven 
dollars a thousand now •ommands nearer seventeen dollars, and being 
manufactured by modern methods more cheaply and transported to market 
with less risk and expense, combined with the much better net returns 
from the bark, has made the business of lumbering in hemlock far more 
remunerative to the operator than were the earlier operations in white 
pine. Only a few mills have been erected for the manufacture of hard- 
woods exclusively, and the products are somewhat limited, the principal 
operation being carried on by the Maple, Beech and Birch Flooring Co., 
of Gaines and the Emporium Lumber Co., at Galeton. 

Formerly most of our forest lands were ovnied by a few individuals, 
companies and estates, among which the most prominent was the Bing- 
ham estate, whose main office is still located in Wellsboro, and which had 
holdings in the State of Pennsylvania, amounting to upwards of one mil- 
lion two hundred thousand acres, or more than one twenty-fifth part of 
the entire area of the State, and of which two hundred and twenty-five 




An original Tioga County Hemlock Forest, one of the last remaining 
tracts of Hemlock. 



LUMBERING IN TIOGA COUNTY. 147 

thousand acres are within the limits of Tioga county. Other early land 
owners to a great extent lost their rights by the neglect to pay the taxes, 
allowing the title to pass to others. Among the most prominent holders 
of these lands were Hezekiah Stowell, Sr., and Peter Dickinson, who 
were succeeded by Phelps, Dodge & Company, and later known as the 
Pennsylvania Joint Lumber & Land Company, Silas X. Billings, William 
Bache and the United States Leather Co. 

Lumbering as carried on in the earlier days was at the best a very 
precarious business and was shunned by the majority of men, even 
though being confined only to the handling of the splendid white pine 
from which the best only was taken from the body of the tree, the pro- 
duct being a large per cent, of what was known as "panel." It was 
not until after the close of the civil war that prices advanced so that the 
business was at all attractive. Financial failure having so long been the 
order of the day, most of the older operators freely advised the younger 
men having ambitions in that direction to turn their attention to other 
business. 

The greater part of the northern and eastern portions of the county 
was lumbered without profit to any one and to a great extent the timber 
was cut, logged and burned on the ground at a very heavy expense in 
order to prepare the land for farming purposes, the early settlers little 
realizingjthe immense future value of the then standing timber. On looking 
back one is led to remark that if the lands of our county were timbered 
entire as they originally were their value would probably be greater than 
in their present condition. For illustration, timber lands which thirty 
years ago were abandoned and had no bidders at tax sales, have since 
sold for one hundred dollars per acre. One two-thousand acre tract in 
Morris township selling at private sale for seventy-five cents per acre, 
had standing upon it thirty million feet of white pine, besides ten mil- 
lion feet of hemlock and other timber, and another similar tract in Elk 
township was sold by the late Judge White for the insignificant sum of 
twenty cents per acre ; the county records show later transfers of the 
same tract at one hundred and fifty dollars per acre and this land at con- 
servative estimates would be well worth three hundred dollars per acre 
to-day. 

Practically in one generation all this magnificent growth of timber has 
disappeared, and it was only with diflSculty tkat the accompanying photo- 
graphs were obtained, giving some idea of how the lands were formerly 
timbered. 

The logging slides, the steam logging railroads, the steam log loader 
and the modern band sawmills, backed up by operators who, beginning 
by purchasing the lands, operate their own camps, build and operate the 
logging roads, manufacturing and marketing the lumber, all under one 
head, speaks well for the enterprise of to-day ; but Ihe rapidity with 
which the forests are disappearing under the influence of these modern 
methods, is at last causing some anxious thought as to the needs of the 



148 TIOGA COUNTY CENTE^fNIAL. 

future ; for soon the last logs will be in, the great engines will cease to 
turn the pulleys, and the operators who know no other business will dis- 
mantle the mills and hie away to the North, West or South, seeking new 
fields for the continuance of their business. 

Our State authorities have awakened to the fact that the wholesale 
destruction of the forests is affecting the water supply and health of the 
nation, and some tardy steps have been taken to help matters by buy- 
ing up to this time about thirty-five thousand acres of wild lands so 
lumbered in Tioga county, making an effort to so protect them that 
nature would re-forest them, in which respect they have been more or 
less successful ; apparently the only obstacle in the way of complete suc- 
cess is forest fires. 

The question is now almost daily asked, "What is the next generation 
to do for lumber for domestic use? " The question, though an import- 
ant one, remains unanswered, as the slaughter of our last remaining for- 
ests goes on. And even now this history is repeating itself in Michigan, 
partly reversed, for as I write, much hemlock there is being cut for the 
lumber, the bark being wasted. 

It is natural for Americans to be wasteful, but in no case has this dis- 
position shown itself more than in the handling of its forests. Even 
now we might take lessons from Germany and France and in parts of our 
country save some of our forests for future generations. In California 
and the Northwest nature has been patiently working for two thousand 
years creating the beautiful forests of redwoods, pine, cedar and spruce, 
yet existing there ; but at the present rate of consumption it is conser- 
vatively estimated that the visible supply, not overlooking the large un- 
developed timber territory of the South, will be exhausted in less than 
forty years or one more generation. 

May at least the arm of President Roosevelt be upheld in his attempt 
to preserve a portion of our public domain. 




Hemlock logs ready for the mill at the head of Four Mile Run, 
showing the lands cut over. 



AGRICULTURE IN TIOGA COUNTY. 



BY EDWARD B. DORSETT. 



By an Act of the Legislature of the State of Pennsylvania, March 26, 
1804, a strip of land containing one thousand and twenty-five square 
miles, was taken from the county of Lycoming and set apart as a sepa- 
rate county, to be known as the county of Tioga. It is a memorable and 
historical fact that her original territory has never been increased or 
diminished during the century just closed. At the time of its formation 
it contained one hundred and thirty families and eight hundred and thirty 
inhabitants. Four years prior to its formation it contained ten families, 
sixty white persons and seven negroes.* 

The progress of agriculture in the new county as in all new settle- 
ments, was slow during the first half of the century. There were many 
causes contributing to this result. At the beginning of the nineteenth 
century there was but one road, the WiUiamson road, thirty-six miles 
long, beginning in Lycoming county and entering the Tioga valley at 
Blossburg. There was neither a gristmill nor a sawmill in the county. 
The settlers were compelled to go to Tioga Point for anything in the way 
of better breadstuff s than their samp mortars afforded. Their buildings were 
made out of hewn timbers and were chinked in between with mud or 
thatched with clapboards, split from the oaks of the forest. Their cloth- 
ing was mostly homespun, being made from the fiber of flax, a plant 
which was largely grown at that time, but which is almost unknown at 
present. The early settlers found only a wilderness in which to lay their 
hearthstones and build their primitive homes. The hillsides and valleys 
were covered with dense forests, which had to be cut and burned before 
farming of the rudest sort could begin. 

There were only two small clearings in the county, one at Lawrence- 
ville and the other in the Cowanesque valley. Seeds and shrubs for 
planting were frequently difficult to obtain. The character of the soil 
was not understood, causing loss where there might have been gain. 
Tools were scarce and crude of construction. If brought from England, 
they were often beyond the purses of those who felt their need. When 
better tools than the early machinery were available many settlers were 
averse to their adoption. The adoption of improved tools and methods 

♦Note 1.— The U. S. census for 1880 returned for Tioga township, Lycoming county. Pa., 
99 families having a total population of 509 inhabitants, none of whom were slaves. By Act 
of Assembly of March 8, 1800, the Commissioners of Lycoming county were required to 
enumerate the number of taxables in its different townships. The return shows 122 taxables 
in Tioga township, including one free colored person. — [Editor.] 



150 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

has always met with more or less opposition, but with less, perhaps, in 
Tioga county than in some others. Laborers in some parts of enlighten- 
ed England destroyed agricultural machinery as late as 1830. Wooden 
plows were the dependence of Tioga county farmers until towards the 
close of the first quarter of the century. 

There was little attempt made towards improvement in agricultural 
methods until the beginning of the last half of the century. Enlightened 
men then began to appreciate the value of fertilizing, rotation of crops, 
the adoption of better tools, and the ultimate danger of the exhaustion 
of the soil. The early settlers placed little confidence in what they called 
"book farming." This sentiment remained to some extent to years 
within the memory of living persons. Stock on the farms continued, 
partly through necessity, perhaps, to be poorly housed in winter and in- 
adaquately fed. Reading matter on agricultural subjects was scarce, 
and what there was attracted little attention from the average farmer 
of the period. Meadow production was confined almost wholly to natural 
growth ; there was little clover and no timothy. The introduction of the 
horserake, and later of the thresher, mowing-machine and self-binder 
was a slow process. 

As we contrast the difference in farm methods and farm implements, 
as used to-day, with those used during the first half of the century, we 
are astonished at the progress which has been made. Farming during 
the first part of the past century was by hand, aided by the horses, an ox 
team or a horse and ox hitched together. The implements used in culti- 
vating the soil, in the earlier days of the county, were few and rudely 
constructed. The old Egyptian style shovel-plow was the first tool used 
to plow the ground. This was followed by the wooden mould-board plow, 
which was made by twisting a piece of timber and cutting it into the 
shape of a mouldboard ; to this which was fitted an iron or steel point, a 
wooden landside, beam and handles completed the plow of early days. 
The harrow used was the old "A" shaped fallow drag. It was made by 
cutting down a forked tree or sapling, cutting off the forks six or eight 
feet from the place of meeting, and by driving eight or ten iron teeth 
into each fork. The horse or team was hitched to the forked end by 
means of a chain. These implements, with a few smaller tools, furnish- 
ed the farmer's outfit a century ago. 

The chief crops raised in the county during the earlier days were rye, 
oats, corn, flax, wheat and potatoes. It was easy to raise these crops, 
as the soil contained all the elements of plant food necessary to produce 
them. All the farmer had to do was to plow the ground, sow or plant 
the seed, harrow with the forked harrow, or cover with the hoe and the 
work was done. Harvesting in the earlier days of the century was the 
hardest work done on the farm. The grain was cut with the sickle, 
raked into bundles and tied by hand. When dry the bundles were drawn 
to the barn and left until winter. Threshing was the work of the winter. 
It was done either with the flail or by tramping of horses. The grain 



AGRICULTURE IN TIOGA COUNTY. 151 

was separated from the chaff by the aid of the wind or the use of the 
old style fanning-mill. The grass was cut with a scythe, raked by hand, 
hauled or carried to the barn, or stacked in the field. Corn was planted, 
cultivated, cut and husked by hand. 

As the century grew older, improvements were made both in farm 
methods and farm implements. The old wooden plow gave way to the 
iron plow, both land and reversible, better known as flat-land and side- 
hill plows. The old "A" drag was followed by the square drag, this by 
the spring tooth harrow, broad-cast seeder, and lastly by the improved 
grain drills, with grass-seeder and fertilizer attachments. The sickle 
was superseded by the grain cradle, drop-reaper and the self-binder. 
The old flail and fanning mill have been laid aside as curios for the im- 
proved grain separators, which now not only separate the grain from the 
straw and chaff, measure and bag the grain, but in some cases press and 
bale the straw. The invention of the horse rake, mowing-machine, ted- 
der, loader and carriers have rendered almost useless the scythe, hand- 
rake, and other small tools, and have transformed the hard and tedious 
tasks of "haying" into a pleasant and profitable pastime of short dura- 
tion. Corn is now planted mostly by aid of the planter or the drill, cul- 
tivated by the improved cultivators, both riding and walking, cut with 
the corn harvester, husked with the com husker and shredder or cut into 
ensilage with an ensilage-cutter. Thus has the inventive genius of man 
gone on until to-day we have the most complete labor-saving machinery 
for agricultural purposes that can be found. To describe all the improve- 
ments in farm machinery is not necessary, as the foregoing description 
and a trip through the county will suflRce to show the young the progress 
which has been made during the century. 

The principal settlements were first made in the valleys along the 
banks of the largest streams and their branches. It was thought that 
the land in the valleys, in addition to being the most accessible and more 
easily worked, was the most fertile. As the county became more thick- 
ly settled the hill lands began to be cleared and their fertility tested. 
The experiment revealed the fact that some of the richest and most en- 
during soil is to be found in the more elevated sections. The hill land 
farms are now, therefore, regarded as being equal in productivess, one 
year with another, with those of the creek and river valleys. During 
the early years of the county's history, when lumbering was largely de- 
pended on to supply ready money, agriculture did not receive anything 
more than ' 'a scratch and a promise ; ' ' but since the practical disappear- 
ance of the pine and hemlock forests, agriculture is rapidly becoming the 
leading occupation. 

The diversified farming of the present was unknown as well as the 
methods pursued by the first-class farmer of to-day. The man who own- 
ed a stumpy clearing was satisfied if he could produce enough rye, oats, 
com or wheat to feed his family and the animals used in the labor of the 
field and the woods, the surplus that found its way to market being a 



152 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

small percentage of the whole crop. The farms of the present bear but 
a slight resemblance to those of early days. On many of them the labor of 
four generations continued year after year with infinite patience, has scarce- 
ly sufficed to free them of the stumps and stones which were left by some 
farmers to maintain the fertility of the soil. A large majority of the 
farms in the county to-day, however, have been so improved that it is 
possible to use modem farm machinery. The present condition bears 
eloquent witness to what can be accomplished in the face of the most 
discouraging and disheartening primary conditions, and it tells the story 
better than words can tell it of the sturdy and stalwart character of the 
men and women, who from the early settlements of the county to the 
present time, have been the main factors in its industrial growth and 
development. 

While all the cereal grains are produced in the county, more attention 
is given to raising oats, corn and buckwheat than to rye, wheat and bar- 
ley. Considerable tobacco is grown in the Tioga, Crooked Creek and 
Cowanesque valleys. During the last twenty-five years, until the recent 
decline in prices tobacco showed an increase in the acreage each year. 
This crop, when prices are good is a very profitable one, but for the past 
five years prices have fallen so low that the production has greatly de- 
creased. 

An examination of the assessments for 1904, prepared by the County 
Commissioners, shows that there are 17,080 taxables in the county. The 
total number of acres of land reported is 662,077 acres, of which 550,914 
acres are cleared, and 111,163 acres are wild or timbered lands. 
The assessed value of all real estate in round numbers is $15,000,000, of 
which $1,015,750 is exempt from taxation, and $13,609,392 is taxable. 
There are 9,083 horses and 15,600 neat cattle in the county. The present 
value of all real estate in Tioga county is about $50,000,000, a grand in- 
crease in value over that of a hundred years ago, when land covered with 
the virgin forests could have been bought for twenty-five cents an acre ; f 
and a dollar an acre would have been considered a good price, on an 
average, to have paid for the land of the county. The present value 
represents not only the labor expended in clearing and cultivating the 
land, building fences and erecting buildings, but it also represents the 
advantage of being within easy reach of the best markets of the country, 
insuring a certainty of always realizing the best prices for the products 
of the garden, field and the orchard. It also represents the advantages 
of good schools, good churches and good society, things quite as desira- 
ble and much more valuable than fertile acres or modern farm equip- 
ments. 

The order of "Patrons of Husbandry," better known as the Grange, 

+NoTE 2.— Act of Assembly of April 8, 1785, fixed the price of land at 80 cents per acre ; 
Act of Oct. 3. 1788, changed it to 53V^ cents per acre after March 1, 1789 ; Act of April 3, 1792, 
changed the price to 13i^ cents per acre, where it remained until 1817, when it was advanced 
to 263'3 cents per acre. — [EDITOR.] 



AGRICULTURE IN TIOGA COUNTY, 153 

has been an important factor in improving the moral, social, financial 
and intellectual condition of the farmers in Tioga county. There are 
thirty-eight Granges in the county having a membership of five thous- 
and, composed of both sexes. The first and highest object of the order 
is "to develop a higher and better manhood and womanhood among 
themselves," to advance the interests and elevate the condition of agri- 
culture and to aid those engaged therein in conducting their business in 
conformity with scientific principles. The influence of the Grange and 
other agricultural societies, the building of public highways, the completion 
of railroads, the invention of modern farm implements and the adoption 
of improved farm methods have contributed largely to the agricultural 
prosperity witnessed in the county to-day. 

But it is to the patient and persistent labor of sturdy and stout-heart- 
ed husbandmen and matrons that the greater share of the present pros- 
perity of Tioga county is to be attributed. Their labor began with the 
felling of the forest trees and the clearing of the forest garden spot, 
which has transformed the face of the county from a dense and unbroken 
wilderness into cultivated fields, orchards and gardens, dotted with beau- 
tiful farm homes and buildings, which are the abiding places of thrift, 
comfort and intelligence, and has, notwithstanding its rough and rugged 
surface, placed the county well up in the Hst of prosperous and produc- 
tive agricultural counties of the State. 



THE EARLY PHYSICIANS. 

BY LEWIS DARLING, M. D, 



That this sketch may be read without weariness, it will be necessary 
to study brevity. I shall endeavor to narrate facts as far as I am able 
to ascertain from the various sources at my command. With scant space 
for facts there is still less for embellishment and many interesting inci- 
dents and individual experiences of the early pioneers of the medical pro- 
fession must of necessity be omitted. 

Beginning with the advent of the first settlement in the county we are 
carried back more than a century. The first physician to practice his pro- 
fession in Tioga county was a non-resident of the county or state. Dr. Ezek- 
iel Mulford came with Colonel Eleazer Lindley and made a settlement on 
the north bank of the Cowanesque river in what is now known as the 
town of Lindley, N. Y. , in 1790. He was known as the physicianof the Lindley 
Colony, and he practiced his profession and made professional visits to 
the few pioneers on the south side of the river in the state of Pennsyl- 
vania. Dr. Mulford and his wife both died within a few hours of each 
other during the prevalence of typhus fever in the year 1812, leaving a 
family of fifteen children, descendants of whom are living in some parts 
of the county of Tioga and many in the town of Lindley, Corning and 
Elmira. This pioneer physician left an honored name as the heritage of 
his descendants. About the same time that Dr. Mulford practiced in the 
north part of the county Dr. William Kent Lathy located at Williams- 
port and his practice extended to the sparse settlements in Tioga county. 
But little is known of this pioneer physician so far as this county is con- 
cerned. Dr. James Davidson lived at the mouth of Pine creek in 1805 
and his practice extended into the southern region of our county. Dr. 
Samuel Coleman, a resident of Williamsport in 1808, made professional 
visits to the small settlements of Tioga county. 

The first regular settlement of a physician in the county of Tioga 
was made by Dr. William Willard. He emigrated from Massachusetts 
and settled in what is now known as Tioga village in 1798. He was a 
man of business and followed many pursuits. He kept hotel, a store, 
erected saw-mills and at one time was the principal genius in all the bus- 
iness enterprises in Tioga and vicinity. He became noted as a man of 
business, but never attained any celebrity as a physician. 

Dr. Ralph Kilborn settled in Lawrenceville in 1802 and practiced his 
profession until 1840, when he removed to near Rochester, N. Y., where 
he died. 



THE EARLY PHYSICIANS. 155 

Dr. Simeon Powers, at the time of his advent in the wilds of Pennsyl- 
vania, was one of the most noted men of his time. He was born in 
Guilford, Vermont, in 1784. He pursued his medical studies in his native 
state and after graduation started on his western journey on horse- 
back and rode through the wilderness and reached his destination at 
Lawrenceville in 1805. He practiced his profession at Lawrenceville a 
short time and moved to Knoxville and from there to Tioga. While in 
Tioga, in the year 1809, he married Polly Inscho, a daughter of Obediah 
Inscho, who settled on the Cowanesque river in 1798. Dr. Powers re- 
moved to Lawrenceville in 1821 and resumed the practice of medicine, 
continuing as long as he was able to do business. He died in 1863. Dr. 
Powers was a large man, hale and hearty during his early life, and a man 
endowed with more than ordinary intelligence. His judgment was sound 
and for years he commanded a large and laborious practice extending up 
the Cowanesque valley into Potter county and south as far as Williams" 
port. He traveled through the country on horseback and many times his 
only companions in the darkness were the howling wolves that in those 
days were numerous. He was a genial man, kind and considerate, and 
always welcome in the home he visited. He was elected second Sheriff 
of Tioga county in 1815 and was also elected as one of the Associate 
Judges and served as such five years. His practice was of the old school 
and he was in his day one of the most successful practitioners in this part 
of the state. There are few now living who know anything of his 
early life and struggles and few who can appreciate what he endured 
of privation and hardship in the practice of medicine in those days. 

Dr. Pliny Powers, a brother of Dr. Simeon Powers, located at Canoe 
Camp and a few years later at Tioga. Here he remained until 1835, when 
he moved to Detroit, Michigan, where he practiced with marked success 
until his death. 

Dr. Jonathan Bonney located in Knoxville in 1811. He was both 
farmer and physician. 

Dr. Adolphus Allen located at Osceola in 1811 and remained only a 
few years. 

Dr. Jeremiah Brown was the first physician to locate at Wellsboro. 
He was born and educated in Vermont and came to the little hamlet of 
Wellsboro, seeking his fortune, in 1816. His practice extended in all 
directions. He made a fair reputation and accumulated a little property, 
which he afterwards lost. Becoming somewhat discouraged with life he 
left Wellsboro and settled on Pine creek, where he died in March, 1831. 

Dr. Curtis Parkhurst located in Lawrenceville in 1818 and enjoyed for 
a time quite an extensive practice. He went into politics and in 1827-8 
was elected to the Legislature. He was elected Sheriff in 1840 and also 
served as Associate Judge. During the latter part of his life he carried 
on a drug store in Lawrenceville. He was an honorable man, respected 
in his day. He left sons and daughters who are filling useful and honor- 
able positions in the world. 



156 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

Dr. John B. Murphy located in Wellsboro in 1823. He practiced med- 
icine, kept a store and also a hotel. He died in 1834. 

Dr. Oliver T. Bundy located at Wellsboro in 1826 and remained until 
1830, when he removed to Broome county, N. Y., and became quite a 
prominent physician. He died in 1874. 

Dr. Ezra Wood was the first physician to locate in Rutland, in 1823. 
His residence in his new field was short, as he died in 1829. 

Dr. Dexter Parkhurst located in Mansfield in 1824, where he remained 
until 1830, when he removed to Mainesburg and lived there and practiced 
his profession very successfully till his death in 1866. 

Dr. Allen Frazer, born in Westerville, N. Y., in 1798, was educated 
in the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Utica, N. Y. He located in 
Deerfield township in 1825 and continued practice as long as he lived. 
He hobbled about among his patients until he was obliged to surrender. 
He died in 1872. Dr. Frazer was one of the old-time men, sound in judg- 
ment, skilled in practice and successful to great degree. He was one of 
the principal promoters of Union Academy at Academy Corners. I knew the 
old Doctor in his dotage, but he was a very interesting man to meet and 
talk with. He was social in his nature, kind and considerate, and it was 
a real pleasure to listen to the story of his experience in the wilderness 
country in the early days of his settlement. 

Dr. Lewis Darling, Sr., located in Wellsboro in the year 1829. He 
was born in Vermont. His ancestors emigrated from England and set- 
tled near Boston, Mass. He was educated at the Woodstock, Vermont, 
academy, and graduated at the old Dartmouth University. He was a 
student in the office of Prof. Joseph Gallup and attended medical colleges 
at Woodstock, Boudoin and Dartmouth, where he graduated in 1828. 
After graduating he procured his outfit of books, instruments and medi- 
cines, and with his horse and buggy, constituting his worldly possassions, 
started on his long and tedious journey to what was then known as 
the West. After many days of travel and many mishaps, he reached his 
destination at Troy, Pa. Here he tarried for a brief time, resting and 
no doubt planning his future course. While living at the hotel in Troy 
he met many strangers who welcomed and encouraged him. Among the 
number were R. G. White and James Lowrey, from Wellsboro, who were 
attending court in Bradford county. A strong friendship sprung up between 
these three young men, and they urged the Doctor to go with them to 
Wellsboro and pursue his practice, as they thought it a fine opening 
for a man of his fitness. He went to Wellsboro and "huni^outhis 
shingle" and soon was doing a fine business. His ride extended far and 
near. His work was laborious, but he pursued it faithfully. In the win- 
ter of 1831 he was joined by Dr. Otis L. Gibson and they entered into 
partnership. They had plenty of hard work to do in their profession, but 
the people were poor and unable to pay ; so they fared very slim and 
they often had to borrow of one another for postage when they wished 
to send letters back to their Vermont friends. In May, 1831, Dr. Darling 



THE EARLY PHYSICIANS. 



157 



closed out his business at Wellsboro and moved to Lawrenceville, in 
those days the most important town in the county. Here he met a very 
cordial welcome and soon was engrossed in his professional work. He 
was a very polished, gentlemanly man and had a cordial and'f riendly way 
with him that made friends of all with whom he came in contact. His 
fame extended far and wide and as a surgeon he had no rival in the Cow- 
anesque and Tioga valleys during the heydey of his professional life. His 
was a blameless Ufe of incessant and useful labor and by his unswerving 
devotion he attained eminence in the professional and social world. In 
October, 1831, Dr. Darling again visited his childhood home in Vermont 
in company with Dr. Otis L. Gibson, where they were both united in 
marriage to the daughters of Captain Luke Parsons of the cavalry in the 
war of 1812. Returning to Tioga county Dr. and Mrs. Darling began 
housekeeping on the corner of Main and State streets in Lawrenceville, 
where they continued to live until their death. Dr. Darling was appoint- 
ed by the Governor of New York state as Surgeon of the 161st Infantry 
Regiment and was ordered South and joined General Banks's army in the 
Department of the Gulf. He accompanied his regiment through the 
famons Red River campaign and siege of Port Hudson. He was univer- 
sally loved and respectedby the officers and soldiers, for he carried with him 
that same kind, genial, humane and friendly manner which governed him 
all his life. Failing health and advancing age compelled him to resign 
from the army and return to his quiet home. He was appointed Surgeon 
of the Pension Department in 1871 and continued to discharge the duties 
of the position to the time of his death, which occurred July 23, 1882. 

Dr. Otis L. Gibson settled in Wellsboro in 1831 and for a brief time 
was associated in practice with Dr. Lewis Darling, Sr. The advent of 
this educated and polished man to this new country was somewhat of a 
revelation. Dr. Gibson was born and reared in Craydon, New Hamp- 
shire. He read medicine in the office of Prof. Wm. Gibson, of Wood- 
stock, Vt., and graduated from the Vermont School of Medicine in the 
year 1830. Dr. Gibson immediately assumed a leading position profess- 
sionally and socially and continued in the confidence and respect of the 
whole community during his life. He was a heroic and fearless prac- 
tioner and the resources at his command were in advance of the 
ordinary physician. He had hardly reached the zenith of his fame and 
while still comparatively young in his profession he was stricken with 
paralysis, which increased until he became perfectly helpless and had to 
abandon his practice. He died July 31, 1863. He was confined to the 
house for many years and exhibited a great degree of cheerfulness and 
patience in his long suffering. 

Dr. Lewis Saynisch, a native of Switzerland, located in Blossburg in 
1831. He was an educated physician and a man of culture. He engaged 
in mercantile and lumber pursuits and finally embarked in the coal busi- 
ness. He was an important man in the mining regions. He died in 
Blossburg in 1856. 



158 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

Dr. Thomas T. Huston settled at Tioga in 1831, but only remained a 
short time, removing to Athens, Bradford county. He was a successful 
practitioner for more than thirty years and died in May, 1865. 

Dr. Allen Furman located in Gaines at an early date and practiced 
medicine for several years. 

Dr. Elisha B. Benedict located in Elkland in 1831. He was both phy- 
sician and Presbyterian minister, a man of culture and education, an 
honored and respected citizen. He died in 1872. 

Dr. Thaddeus Phelps located at Knoxville in 1832. He was born and 
educated in Massachusetts and after graduation came to Lawrence- 
ville to visit his boyhood friend. Dr. Lewis Darling, Sr. Dr. Darling ad- 
vised him to locate in Knoxville and he took up the work, but he could 
not conform to the backwoods methods of those early days, and the 
pioneer Hfe to this cultured Eastern man had no charms sufficient to hold 
him to a life of toil and privation. After continuing in practice until 
1884 he turned his back upon his new home and returned to Massachu- 
setts, locating in Attleboro, where he practiced the remainder of his life. 
He was the father of Dr. Charles Phelps, the celebrated New York city sur- 
geon, who has gained considerable notoriety as an expert in murder 
trials. 

Dr. Francis H. White began the practice of medicine in 1832 at Rose- 
ville. He moved about to several places, was for a time at Mansfield 
and Tioga, but returning to Roseville he continued in the practice of his 
profession until he died in 1885. He had reached the ripe age of 106 
years and was the oldest physician in the county and the longest in con- 
tinuous practice. He enjoyed the confidence of those to whom he admin- 
istered and left a good name as a reminder of his good deeds and faithful 
services to humanity. 

Dr. Milton P. Orton located in Lawrenceville in 1834. He was a 
graduate of the classical and medical departments of Yale College. He 
was born in Sharon, Connecticut, in 1795. Dr. Orton was a thorough 
student, finely educated and well fitted to pursue any profession. He 
practiced many years and followed other callings. He was a farmer and 
lumberman. He married a daughter of Hon. James Ford and thus was 
given a prestige that was of great service to him. He never acquired 
any great fame as a physician and surgeon, but was always looked upon 
as a man of sound judgment, but he lacked the energy and push of his 
compeers. He retired from practice and became principal of Lawrence- 
ville Academy and afterwards taught a private school. He had but few 
equals and no superiors as a classical teacher. In 1862 Dr. Orton entered 
the United States service as a contract surgeon and was stationed in the 
hospital at Hatteras Inlet. Dr. Orton at that time was 67 years old, 
but he rendered very efficient service to his country and was universally 
respected by the sick and wounded soldiers that came under his care. He 
died in 1864 and his body was brought back to his home and buried in the 



THE EARLY PHYSICIANS. 159 

old Lindley burying ground. He did his work in life well and now rests 
on the hill overlooking the scenes of his early struggles. 

Dr. Barton Streeter was born in Chesterfield, N. H., in 1787. He 
came of the famous Streeter family that were known throughout New 
England. He was thoroughly educated and after graduation came to 
Tioga county and in 1830 located at Westfield. He was what may be 
termed an itinerant doctor, and traveled over the country seeking chronic 
cases for treatment. He was remarkably successful and his fame ex- 
tended far and wide. He emigrated to the West and died, where and 
when I know not. 

Sylvester Streeter, born in 1793, located in Canton, Bradford county, 
where he lived till he died in 1863. His practice covered the eastern 
and southern parts of Tioga county and in the early days he was the 
principal physician in that part of the country. He was regarded as a 
very skillful physician and had the confidence of the early settlers and he 
served them faithfully and well. 

Dr. Abel Humphrey, born in Chenango county, N. Y., located in Tioga 
in 1836. Nature did much for Dr. Humphrey. He was a gentlemanly 
man, kind and considerate, and he had the faculty to a marked degree of 
inspiring faith and confidence in his patrons. He enjoyed a considerable 
practice at Tioga that continued for many years. He was always re- 
garded as a safe and judicious practitioner. Had Doctor Humphrey de- 
voted his early life to the study of his profession and entered its portals 
through the regular channels he would no doubt have made a great suc- 
cess with the practice of medicine. He occupied a high position in society 
and was considerable of a politician, becoming an Associate Judge of the 
county. Ill health compelled him to retire from active business. 

Dr. Harvey Leach located in Chatham township in 1837. He was an 
itinerant and rode over a large territory. He continued practice until he 
died in 1862. He was faithful to his patrons, attentive to their wants, 
and left behind him an untarnished name. 

Dr. H. G. Smythe located in Mansfield in 1838 and practiced his pro- 
fession until compelled by broken health to reHnquish his arduous work. 
He was considered to be a physician of much ability and enjoyed the con- 
fidence of the community. He became crippled in his early life and was 
obliged to use crutches for many years. 

Dr. Albert M. Loop located in Nelson, then known as Beecher's Is- 
land, m 1840. He was born in Elmira, N. Y., read medicine with Doctor 
Boynton, attended a course of lectures at the Geneva Medical College 
and was licensed by the Fairfield Medical Institute. He was a young 
man of more than ordinary ability. Dr. Loop immediately acquired a 
good practice and continued to enjoy the respect and confidence of his 
people for many years. He was never a very ambitious practitioner, but 
was rather slow and deliberate and never very enthusiastic, but as a 
diagnostican he had few superiors. Dr. Loop, while capable of doing well 
whatever he was called upon to do, yet naturally shrank from assum- 



160 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

ing too much responsibility and always called counsel in his difficult cases. 
Dr. Loop was a close student, a great reader and possessed a wonderfully 
retentive memory. He believed whatever was worth knowing was worth 
knowing well. He devoted his life to the service of humanity and no one 
knows the amount of unrequited services he rendered to the people of the 
valley where he passed his long life. He gave to the people more than 
he ever received in fees for his services and whatever was unrecognized 
and unrewarded in this world is entered to his everlasting credit in the 
world beyond. 

Dr. Nelson Packer was born in December, 1814, at Norwich, N. Y., 
and was educated at the Oxford Academy. He studied medicine with 
Dr. Henry Mitchell, of Norwich, and was graduated from the Geneva 
Medical College in 1838. He came to Wellsboro in 1838 and entered upon 
the practice of his profession. When Dr. Packer came to Wellsboro he 
met in competition the celebrated Dr. Otis L. Gibson, who received him 
in a friendly way and I believe their relations were always cordial. The 
population of Wellsboro and vicinity was rapidly increasing and there 
was a growing demand for two physicians of the character and reputa- 
tion of Doctors Gibson and Packer. Dr. Packer was a man of energy 
and push and he devoted himself to the arduous duties of his calling and 
denied himself many pleasures. Dr. Packer physically was not very 
robust, but he was possessed of that wiry, nervous temperament that 
overcame all obstacles and permitted him to do a great amount of hard 
work. His practice became very extensive and laborious and he was 
surely forging to the front when Dr. Gibson was obliged to abandon prac- 
tice on account of ill health. Dr. Packer was in a position to readily 
take the lead in the practice of his profession. Dr. Packer enjoyed the 
reputation of being one of the most careful and skilled surgeons in this 
part of the country and for many years was the leading light in that part 
of the county and state. Dr. Packer married January 15th, 1849, Miss Mary 
McDougall, of Lawrenceville. Her parents were among the early and hon- 
ored settlers of Lawrenceville. Mrs. Packer was a lady of much dignity 
and refinement and very highly thought of in the home of her birth. Dr. 
Packer entered the United States service as Assistant Surgeon in 1862 
and was stationed at Chesapeake Hospital, Va. His failing health com- 
pelled him to resign the service and return to his home. In 1864 he was 
appointed Examining Surgeon of Pensions and served in that capacity 
till the time of his death. He died February 8th, 1883, full of honors and 
lamented and mourned by the entire community. 

Dr. William B. Rich was born in Otsego county, N. Y., and settled 
in Knoxville in 1843. He practiced in Knoxville, Deerfield and Chatham 
and had a very extensive ride, and he won the reputation of being a 
skilled physician. He died in 1878, ripe in years and experience. 

Dr. Daniel McNaughton located in Westfield in 1845 and practiced his 
profession for many years. In 1861 he was appointed postmaster of West- 
field and continued in this office for about ten years. In 1871 he was 



THE EARLY PHYSICIANS. 161 

elected Associate Judge. He died in the year 1883. Dr. McNaughton at 
one time was one of the leading physicians in the valley of the upper 
Cowanesque. He was a very genial, sociable man, and enjoyed the respect 
and confidence of the people. He was unpretentious, judicious and safe 
in his practice. 

Dr. H. H. Borden came to Tioga from Steuben county, N. Y., in 1842, 
and began studying medicine with Dr. Abel Humphrey. After com- 
pleting his medical education he began the practice of medicine in 1847. 
He was associated with C. 0. Etz in the drug business for a time and 
afterwards with Dr. T. R. Warren. He practiced his profession for 
many years with marked success, but finally abandoned the laborious 
work and continued in the drug business up to the time of his death in 
1894. Dr. Borden always took a lively interest in his profession, even after he 
had relinquished the practice. He was a faithful member of the County 
Medical Society and contributed his full share in keeping up its interest. 
Dr. Borden was regarded as a prudent and safe practitioner and for many 
years enjoyed a large ride and had the confidence of his patrons. 

Dr. Charles V. Elliott, a native of Bradford county. Pa., began the 
practice of medicine at Mansfield in 1847, after studying with Dr. N. 
Packer in Wellsboro and graduating from Geneva Medical College. He 
kept a drug store in connection with his practice, which he continued 
until 1891, when he retired. Dr. ElHott was a large, fine looking man of 
pleasing address, and always met you in a very cordial manner. He 
stood high in the community where he passed the greater portion of his 
life and he was largely identified in all matters that contributed to the 
material upbuilding of Mansfield. He was honored by election to the 
Pennsylvania Legislature in 1876 and re-election in 1878. He was also 
postmaster in Mansfield for twelve years. 

Dr. Nathaniel Smith, bom in Windham county, Vermont, in 1823, lo- 
cated in Jackson township in 1847. For a time he was located at Dag- 
gett's Mills, but afterwards removed to Millerton, where he is now 
located in the active practice of his profession. He is more than four- 
score years of age and is probably the oldest practitioner in the county. 
He came of good old Vermont stock and inherited the vigor of his ances- 
tors. For years he has commanded the greater share of business in his 
part of the county. He has been a faithful, self-sacrificing man and has 
given himself no rest in all the active years of his Hfe. For years he 
has gone in and out among the people of his mountain home and for 
years he has been their stay and dependence in their hour of sickness 
and trouble. He has spent all his days among the people of Jackson and 
has well earned the good name and fame which in his dotage he may 
enjoy. 

Dr. Charles K. Thompson was born in Charleston, April 22, 1821, and 
died in Wellsboro, September 11, 1888. He studied medicine with Dr. 
Otis L. Gibson and graduated from the Geneva Medical College in 1846. 
He married in 1847 Miss Sarah Gibson and commenced the practice of 



162 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

medicine in Wellsboro and Charleston. At the beginning of the civil war 
Dr. Thompson entered the United States service and served during the 
w^ar as surgeon. After the w^ar was retained in the Freedmen's Bureau at 
Edisto, South Carolina. After leaving the government service he returned 
to his home and was appointed resident physician at Fall Brook. In this 
capacity he continued for a year and then located permanently in Wells- 
boro, where he practiced to the time of his death. Dr. Thompson was 
never a rugged man physically. He was a very close student and a ready 
writer. His contributions to medical literature in his active days were 
considerable. He was one of the leading lights in the County Medical 
Society and took an active part in the literary proceedings of the Elmira 
Academy of Medicine. He was a man of sound judgment, a good 
diagnostican and he was in great demand as counsel in difficult and doubt- 
ful cases. 

Dr. Henry Kilbourn was born in Shrewsbury, Vermont, in 1802 and 
graduated from the Vermont School of Medicine in 1828. He came to 
Tioga county in 1840 and located in Covington and Blossburg, dividing 
his time between these places. He practiced his profession for forty- 
five years and enjoyed a wide reputation as a skillful physician and also 
as the most eccentric man in the Tioga valley. He was noted as an 
inimitable story teller. The people of his vicinity enjoyed his peculiari- 
ties and he was welcomed in many households. 

Dr. William T. Humphrey, was born in Bainbridge, N. Y., in 1824. He 
attended the Albany Medical College. He first located in Addison, N.Y., 
but only remained a few months. He removed to Elkland in 1849 and 
remained until 1857, when he removed to Osceola, where he remained 
until his death. In 1861 Dr. Humphrey was appointed Assistant Surgeon 
of the famous Bucktail regiment of the Pennsylvania Reserves. At the 
organization of the 149th Penn'a Regiment, he was appointed Surgeon 
and served with his regiment until mustered out. He was regarded as 
one of the very best regimental surgeons and was dexterous at an opera- 
tion. He stood high among his professional brothers in the army, and 
was loved and respected by the officers and soldiers of his command. 
After the close of the war Dr. Humphrey returned to his home, resumed 
the practice of medicine and continued for many years until compelled to 
give up his work. Dr. Humphrey was elected to the Legislature and 
served his constituents faithfully and well. During the years of his 
active professional life he was one of the best known surgeons in the 
Cowanesque valley. He was called far and near in all difficult cases and 
was the recognized head of his profession. Dr. Humphrey was a very 
genial, open-hearted man, and it was always a pleasure to meet him pro- 
fessionally or socially. 

Dr. Locke Granger came to Lawrenceville in 1839 and studied medicine 
in the office of Dr. Lewis Darling, Sr. He attended the Medical College 
at Geneva, N. Y., and was graduated in 1841. He returned to Lawrence- 
ville and was associated with Dr, Darling in practice for about one year. 



THE EARLY PHYSICIANS. 163 

He then opened an oflSce by himself and began his life's work. Dr. 
Granger was something of an old bachelor when he was married to Jane 
Seeley, a daughter of William Seeley, of Lawrenceville, one of the early 
settlers. In 1862, when Dr. Lewis Darling entered the U. S. army, it 
left Dr. Granger as the principal physician. He did a very large profes- 
sional business and acquired a good reputation as a careful and successful 
physician. He was elected Justice of the Peace and served as such for 
a number of years. He was School Director for several years and was 
Burgess of Lawrenceville. He was not a very robust man and reaching 
very advanced life he broke down and had to give up his business and 
became confined to his house and bed, where he died in August, 1883. 
He was buried in the old Lindley cemetery. 

Dr. William M. Barden located in Mansfield in 1852. He was the 
first Homeopathic practitioner in the county. He died in 1884. Dr. Barden 
was regarded as a very successful practitioner in his school of medicine 
and built up a large practice. 

Dr. J. H. Shearer, a homeopathic physician, located in Wellsboro in 
1852. In 1855 he moved to Springfield, Illinois, where he remained until 
1859. Returning to Wellsboro he continued in practice to the time of his 
death. While in Springfield he became intimately acquainted with Abra- 
ham Lincoln and they were firm friends ever after. Dr. Shearer was a 
very polished, gentlemanly man and for years enjoyed a large patronage 
in his practice and was successful. 

Dr. Henry C. Bosworth, a graduate of the Geneva Medical College, 
located in Deerfield and Osceola in 1850. He was farmer, merchant and 
physician and continued as such to the time of his death in 1870. I know 
nothing of his practice, but have always heard him spoken of in the high- 
est terms. 

Dr. Ira W. Bellows located in Knoxville in 1854 and continued in prac- 
tice until 1870, when he retired to his farm in Deerfield, where he con- 
tinued to live and enjoy the respect of the entire community. Dr. Bel- 
lows was a very energetic, ambitious physician and tried to do the very 
best he knew for his patients. He had a large practice and was quite 
successful ; but the Doctor was always handicapped in his professional 
life by his lack of early advantages and education. Had he entered the 
profession ' ' by the open door, " he no doubt would have been a very suc- 
cessful physician. He loved the practice of medicine, its associations 
and its rewards. He was a God fearing and God serving man and died 
honored and respected by all who knew him. 

Dr. W. W. Webb, born in Chenango, N. Y., educated at the Geneva 
Medical College and Castleton Medical College, Vermont, graduating in 
1854. He began the practice of medicine in Liberty and continued until 
1857, when he removed to Wellsboro and practiced until his death in 1889. 
Dr. Webb had a brief service in the army, being Assistant Surgeon of 
the 35th Regiment. When Dr. Webb began the practice of medicine in 
Wellsboro he had to compete for honor and business with Dr. Nelson 



164 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

Packer, who was considered about the best in his part of the county, but 
Wellsboro and the country surrounding was becoming quite thickly popu- 
lated and the town was gaining in wealth and importance and the field 
was widening for the services of more medical men. Dr. Webb was dil- 
igent and attended strictly to his business and gained rapidly in friends 
and professional business. Dr. Webb took a very active part in the 
transactions of the County Medical Association and thus became well 
known as a careful, progressive student of medical literature. He stood 
high among his professional brethren, which added much to his reputa- 
tion. Dr. Webb was considered to be one of the best medical men in 
Wellsboro and enjoyed quite an extensive practice for years. The Doc- 
tor was something of a musician and it was always a treat to hear him 
sing, which he frequently did at our medical reunions. Dr. Webb was a 
very genial, social man and it was always a pleasure to meet him. 

Dr. George D. Maine, born in Mainesburg in 1826, was graduated 
from the medical department of the University of Buffalo in 1856. He 
located in the home of his birth, where he continued in active practice to 
the time of his death, with the exception of the time he spent in the 
army. Dr. Maine was appointed Assistant Surgeon of the One Hundred 
and Ninety-Second Pennsylvania Volunteers and served as such until 
mustered out with the regiment in 1865. He returned to Mainesburg 
and again took up the practice of medicine. The Doctor proved that a 
prophet may possess honor in his own country. He overcame the preju- 
dices of his people by his diligent and faithful attendance upon their 
wants and acquired a well deserved fame as a skillful physician. He was 
a very quiet, dignified man, without ostentation, who gained the con- 
fidence of the people for his real worth. Dr. Maine married Miss Kate 
Gregory, of Elmira, and had two daughters. Dr. Maine was a very 
attentive member of the County Medical Society and was the president 
of the Society in 1879. The old members of the County Society will re- 
member that Dr. Maine's contributions were always interesting and in- 
structive. He was a faithful attendant upon the regular meetings and 
did his full share towards making these gatherings profitable in a literary 
way. He died in 1897, full of years and honor. 

Dr. L. M. Johnson, a native of Steuben county, N. Y., a graduate of 
the University of Michigan, located in Wellsboro in 1858. Dr. Johnson 
was a man of marked personahty. He was never on intimate terms with 
the members of the medical profession and stood aloof from association 
with them. He fully occupied his own field of action and gained a good 
name and fame among his friends and patrons. His field of action was 
limited, but the glory of a well spent life was his. 

Dr. James Masten was born in Penn Yan, N. Y., in 1827. He read 
medicine with the celebrated physicians, Drs. A. F. and W. Oliver. He 
attended a course of medical lectures at the University of Buffalo. In 
1849 he located at White's Corners, Potter county, and practiced until 
the year 1860, when he located at Westfield. Dr. Masten was postmaster 



THE EARLY PHYSICIANS. 165 

at Westfield between 1885 and 1889. He was one of the oldest practi- 
tioners in the county. When he located in Westfield it was a little hamlet, 
sparsely populated by the descendants of the early pioneers. He found 
plenty of competitors already located in the small town, but he set him- 
self to work with energy and perseverance and compelled recognition by 
his skill and devotion to his profession. He was intelligent, frank and 
kind and he made every man his friend. Dr. Hasten was one of the 
leading members of the Masonic order in Westfield. By his faithful de- 
votion to his profession in the many long years of his practice, he won 
the respect and confidence of the people. Dr. Hasten died April 8, 1905, 
of a cancerous affliction, aged 78 years. 

Dr. W. W. Wright located in Elkland in 1850. He was born in Cairo, 
Greene county, N, Y., in 1830. In 1848 he began the study of medicine 
in the office of Dr. Nelson Packer in Wellsboro. Attended medical col- 
lege at Geneva, N. Y., and was graduated in the class of 1850. Dr. 
Wright was a very quiet, unassuming man, rather diffident in manner. 
He was a man of dignity and fine appearance and gained friends rapidly. 
When he located in practice at Elkland he was surrounded on all sides by 
physicians of marked skill and ability, who drove by him in every direc- 
tion, on their professional visitations, but the Doctor was not discouraged 
nor disheartened. He was diligent and attended his calls with prompt- 
ness and devotion, and soon had built up quite an extensive practice. He 
was regarded as a very careful physician and was remarkably successful. 
In the diseases of children he made quite a reputation, which he enjoyed 
to the end of his life. The Doctor was never very social with the mem- 
bers of the medical profession. He had been somewhat "soured" in 
early life and never recovered from it. He was highly respected by the 
entire community for his honorable, upright life. 

Dr. E. S. Robbins located in Covington in 1856, where he continued in 
practice to the time of his death. He was genial and social, but full of 
eccentricities, blunt and outspoken. He had an extensive practice and 
was universally respected by the entire community. His sudden death 
was deplored by the people he had so long served faithfully and well. 

Dr. Charles Voorhees began the practice of medicine at Daggett's 
Mills in 1855 and continued practice up to the time of his death. Dr. 
Voorhees was a graduate of Jefferson Medical College and stood high as 
a student. He was a man of fine physique, a commanding figure and 
would always attract attention. He was a close student and was possess- 
ed of much intelligence. He was the leading citizen in his town and 
managed an extensive farm in connection with his practice. He was lo- 
cated in a mountainous region and his ride extended in all directions. He 
attended to his large practice faithfully and gained the love and respect 
of the entire community. He served all alike and answered the call of 
the needy poor with as much promptness and professional interest as the 
call of the rich. A man of the intelligence, character and fitness of Dr. 
Voorhees never ought to have wasted his life in such a rural district. He 



166 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

was fitted for something higher and nobler in a larger field, but he chose 
his course of life and he filled the measure of it with credit and honor to 
himself. 

Dr. Daniel Bacon was bom May 21st, 1836, in Delmar township. He 
received his early training in the district school and at the Wellsboro 
Academy. In 1858 he commenced the study of medicine in the oflnce of 
Dr. W. W. Webb at Wellsboro. He attended a course of medical lec- 
tures at the University of Michigan and graduated at the University of 
Bufi'alo in the class of 1860. His first field of practice was in Osceola. 
At the breaking out of the civil war in 1861 he enlisted as a private sol- 
dier in the Second Pennsylvania Cavalry. He was promoted to hospital 
steward in 1862. In November, 1862, he was promoted Second Lieuten- 
ant of Company L and served in this capacity until his discharge, Octo- 
ber 11, 1864. During his army service he performed the duties of an 
assistant surgeon and rendered efficient service in this capacity. After 
his discharge from the service he returned to the land of his nativity and 
began the practice of medicine at Tioga, but only remained there for a 
brief time, when he located permanently in Wellsboro, where he contin- 
ued in active practice to the time of his death, which occurred December 
19, 1888. Dr. Bacon served for five years as Adjutant and full Surgeon 
of the Twelfth Regiment of the National Guard. He was an active mem- 
ber of the Grand Army of the Republic and took a lively interest in the 
association. Dr. Bacon was a very active member of the County Medi- 
cal Society and served as its president in 1869. He took a lively interest 
in everything that pertained to his profession. He was an enthusiastic 
and earnest practitioner and although he had as competitors some of the 
most noted physicians in the county, yet he was enabled to successfully 
bear his proportion of the labors and share in its benefits and rewards. 
His judgment was sound and his skill far above the average. He was a 
close student and a broad observer and he was well prepared for any 
emergency in the practice of his profession. His success as an operator 
in abdominal surgery was recognized by his brethren and could he have 
lived no doubt would have added to his fame. Dr. Bacon was a very 
genial, friendly man, and was ever loyal to his friends, at times a little 
brusque 'and ^abrupt, but ^ever gentle, kind and sympathetic at the bed- 
side of the suffering. 

Dr. Robert B. Smith was born in Marathon, Cortland county, N. Y., 
August 23d, 1840. He studied medicine with Dr. H. S. French, of Lisle, 
and graduated at the Long Island College Hospital in 1866. Dr. Smith 
came to this county seeking a location for the practice of medicine. I 
very well remember his coming, for it was the same time of my return 
from the U. S. Navy. Relocated in Tioga and began his life work. The 
people of Tioga and vicinity gave him a hearty welcome and he was soon 
engrossed in his active work, which increased as the years went by. Dr. 
Smith was a very active man, full of ambitious fire and a great worker. 
During the early years of his professional life he gave himself no rest ; 



THE EARLY PHYSICIANS. 167 

day and night found him ever busy. Dr. Smith is a man of very positive 
opinions, and he is outspoken and frank, but he is not intolerant and 
bigoted ; when once convinced that he is right, no power or argument 
can move or change him ; convince liim that he is in error and he quickly 
responds and is as ready to confess his error as to maintain his own 
opinions when in the right. Dr. Smith has always been a close and dili- 
gent student and has kept abreast of the rapid advances made in medical 
science. He is a man of mature and sound judgment, a very correct 
diagnostican, quick and usually correct in his opinions. Dr. Smith has 
always done a large consulting business and he has ever maintained an 
honorable relation with his professional brothers. I have known him 
intimately ever since his settlement in the county. For years we have 
met professionally. There has been a good deal of similarity in our age, 
settlement and practice. We have always been firm friends, and I hope 
these cordial relations may continue the remainder of our lives. He 
stands unrivaled in his locality for eminence in the medical profession. 
No physician ever lived in Tioga who has earned and will receive the 
marked distinction that will be accorded him when his work in life is 
completed. 

Dr. Morgan L. Bacon was born in Charleston township, June 10, 1837. 
He graduated at Union Academy at Knoxville, after which he taught 
school for a time. He then took up medicine in the office of Dr. Nelson 
Packer at Wellsboro. He had not completed his medical studies when 
the war broke out. He served as hospital steward for a time in the army. 
In 1863 he began the practice of medicine in Mansfield. In 1868 he 
moved to Blossburg where he practiced until 1870, when he moved to 
Morris Run. Here he remained until 1872, when he moved to Wellsboro, 
where he has continued the pi'actice of his profession for more than one- 
third of a century. Dr. Bacon stands high in the medical profession and 
among his people and patrons he is very highly respected for his kind- 
ness, devotion and skill. He has always commanded a leading position 
both socially and professionally and has maintained the dignity and honor 
of his profession to more than an ordinary degree. Dr. Bacon is a man 
of marked personality. He has always been an active member of the 
County Medical Society and served as president in the year 1878. He, 
Bacon, is now one of the oldest physicians in active practice in the county. 
He stands in the fore front of his profession in the county, and looking 
backward upon his professional career he has reason to feel satisfied that 
his life has been well spent in the service of the people. 

Dr. H. A. Phillips located in Knoxville in 1867 and pursued a success- 
ful practice for 10 years. He was ambitious beyond his strength and 
died in 1877 in the prime of life. 

Dr. William Caldwell located in Morris Run in 1867 and practiced his 
profession until 1891. 

Dr. D. C. Waters located in Amot in 1870 and has remained in con- 
tinuous practice to the present. Dr. Waters is a man very highly re- 



168 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

spected and has gained a good reputation among the people he has served 
so long. 

Dr. F. D. Ritter, a graduate of the University of Buffalo, first lo- 
cated in Lawrenceville, but only remained a short time, when he moved 
to Tioga. Here he only lived for a short time. In 1872 he moved 
to Gaines, where he remained until the time of his death, March 12, 
1897. Dr. Ritter was a successful physician and stood well in the com- 
munity where he lived and practiced for so many years. 

Dr. A. L. Bottom was born in Nelson, April 19, 1847, and was edu- 
cated at Union and WoodhuU Academies. He read medicine in the office 
of Dr. W. T. Humphrey, of Osceola, and graduated in the Detroit Medi- 
cal College in the class of 1875. The same year he located in Westfield 
and gained a wide and well earned reputation. Before reaching the 
zenith of his fame as a physician he had to lay down his work and join 
the hosts moving to the other world. His death was a great shock to 
the community where he was universally loved and respected for his 
kindness and skill. 

Dr. Lewis Darling, Jr., was born in Lawrenceville, October 19, 1840. 
He was educated in the Lawrenceville Academy and under private tutors. 
He began the study of medicine in the office of his father and attended 
his first course of lectures in the Georgetown Medical College. In 1862 
he joined the medical department of the army and for nearly a year was 
stationed at Carver U. S. General Hospital, Washington, D. C. He was 
then transferred to the western army and for a time was stationed in 
Lawson General Hospital, St. Louis, Mo. In the spring of 1863 he was 
ordered to U. S. hospital steamer, "City of Memphis," and was en- 
gaged in transporting the sick and wounded of General Grant's army 
from Vicksburg to the hospitals in Memphis, Louisville and St. Louis 
during the siege of Vicksburg. He was at the surrender of the army of 
Vicksburg, July 4, 1863, and made the last trip up the river with the 
hospital boat when she was put out of commission. He was detached 
and ordered to the hospital barracks. Here he remained until Septem- 
ber, when he was ordered to join General Rosencrans' army at Chat- 
tanooga. He reached the army in time to aid in the care of the sick and 
wounded at Chickamauga, being stationed at the Crutchfield Home Hos- 
pital. He was afterwards transferred to the Army of the Ohio, under 
General Schofield, at Knoxville, Tenn., and went with the army in the 
Georgia campaign to Atlanta. He was one of the operating surgeons 
of the 23d Army Corps during this campaign. He resigned from the 
army at Atlanta, Ga., and returned to the North to recuperate his healthy 
and during- this time he attended a course of lectures at the Bellevue 
Hospital Medical College and in February, 1865, went before the naval 
examining board and was commissioned an assistant surgeon in the vol- 
unteer navy. He was stationed for a time on the receiving ship, "North 
Carohna, " and there joined the South Atlantic blockading squadron at 
Port Royal, S. C. He was on duty at the naval hospital for a time, then 



THE EARLY PHYSICIANS. 169 

was ordered as surgeon of the famous monitor, ' ' Nahant. ' ' With this 
vessel he served to the close of the war, coming north in her to the Phil- 
adelphia navy yard, where she was dismantled and put out of commission. 
After leaving the United States Navy he entered the medical depart- 
ment of the University of Michigan and was graduated in the class of 
1866, made famous by the fact that it contained so many ex-surgeons of 
the army and navy. After graduation he settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, but 
only remained a few months, when he removed to Lawrenceville, Pa., 
where he has lived and practiced since. After the death of his father he 
was appointed Pension Surgeon in 1882. He has always been a very act- 
ive member of the Tioga County Medical Society and served as president 
of the society in 1877. The Doctor has contributed quite extensively to 
medical literature through the columns of the medical journals and trans- 
actions of the County Medical Society. 

As the author of this history of the Tioga county physicians is so 
closely related to the subject of this narrative, it would hardly be be- 
coming to indulge in fulsome praise of his career in life, so will close 
this article and leave the further criticisms to some other, who can do 
the subject more justice. 

Did time and space permit, I would be glad to write of the many 
worthy physicians in active practice during the closing years of the nine- 
teenth century, but it is impracticable in the time and space allotted. 

I would that I could grace these annals, not alone with the names, but 
with a personal sketch of all the younger physicians who have located in 
this county and are pursuing the practice of their noble calling under cir- 
cumstances and conditions very different from those surrounding the 
pioneers of our profession, whose fortitude and bravery led them to this 
wilderness, where they spent their lives in the service of the early set- 
tlers, who were enduring privations and hardships while engaged in level- 
ing the forests, and changing the wilderness into gardens of cultivated 
fields, glowing with golden grain— whose industry, intelligence and taste 
have changed the whole face of nature — but into this enticing field I 
must not enter. 

I would love to write of Drs. Clarence W. Webb, Nathan W. Mastin, 
Augustus Niles, Hugh L. Davis, Farnham H. Shaw and John P. Long- 
well, of Wellsboro ; of Drs. S. P. Hakes, Charles B. Borden and Charles 
Smith, of Tioga ; of Drs. Benjamin Moody, W. D. Vedder and Fred G. 
Elliott, of Mansfield ; of Dr. Henry E. Caldwell, of Morris Run ; of Dr. 
W. G. Humphrey and Frisbe, of Elkland ; of Dr. Arland L. Darling, 
of Lawrenceville ; of Drs. Frank Masten, Kunkle, Pritchard and Secord, 
of Westfield ; of Drs. Trexler, Clark and Glover, of Knoxville ; of Drs. 
George D. Crandall and Haley, of Blossburg ; of Dr. Gaskill, of Cov- 
ington ; of Dr. Gentry, of Stony Fork ; of Dr. Hazlett, of East Charles- 
ton ; of Dr. Stevens, of Nelson ; of Dr. Frank Smith, of Millerton, and of 
the lamented Dr. Beers, of Middlebury, stricken in the prime and vigor 



170 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

of his manhood, and many other young physicians just starting out in 
practice in this county, but a simple mention must suffice. 

The brief outUnes which I have sketched of the early physicians is all 
that is now possible, and from this it will enable us to note the changes 
and progress that have been made. The historian of the future, when the 
children of our children's children shall meet to commemorate the falling 
of another century from "His hand, whence centuries fall like grains of 
sand, " may in this homely sketch find material for one page of his annals. 



COAL MINES AND MINING. 



BY JOHN L. SEXTON. 



To me has been assigned the duty of writing in regard to the coal 
mines and their development in Tioga county. I regret that I have not 
more space given me to devote to one of the most important industries 
of the county. I must, therefore, be brief, omitting many of the most 
interesting details connected with the development of the coal business 
which involved the expenditure of more than sixty millions of dollars for 
labor alone, exclusive of the expenditure of many millions of dollars more 
in constructing railroads, erecting mills, schutes, stores, dwellings and 
machinery. 

Coal was first discovered in Tioga county by Robert and Benjamin 
Patterson in August, 1792, one hundred and twelve years ago. They 
were conducting the English and German emigrants from Northumber- 
land county, Pa., whither they had arrived via the city of Philadelphia 
from England in the spring of 1792 and were building roads and leading 
them forward to found the town of Bath, Steuben county, N. Y., in the 
center of a great tract of wild land containing one million two hundred 
thousand acres belonging to Sir Charles Pulteney, of Bath, England. 
Their route was up the west branch of the Susquehanna river from 
Northumberland to where the city of Williamsport is now located, thence 
up Lycoming creek to where the village of Trout Run is now situated, 
thence up Trout run and over Laurel ridge mountains, thence to Liberty, 
(the Block House) thence to where the borough of Blossburg is situated, 
thence to Painted Post and Bath. The party arrived at the point where 
Blossburg is located in August, 1792, and discovered coal. The English 
emigrants were familiar with the uses to which coal could be put and were 
delighted with the idea of being about to locate in a rich bituminous coal 
region. The discovery of coal was immediately transmitted by emigrants 
to their friends in the old country, especially in England, Scotland and 
Wales. It soon became known in the capital of the great state of New 
York, whose citizens of Seneca and Ontario counties petitioned the 
Legislature of Pennsylvania as early as 1815 to join the citizens of New 
York in constructing a canal from the head of Seneca lake at Watkins 
to the Pennsylvania coal mines. The original petition is in my posses- 
sion now. 

Forty-eight years after the discovery of coal at Blossburg the Coming 
and Blossburg railroad was completed in the autumn of 1840. For nearly 
a half century the best energies of Tioga county's enterprising citizens, 



172 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

both at Wellsboro, Blossburg, Mansfield, Tioga, Lawrenceville and the 
citizens of Steuben, Chemung, Seneca, Ontario, Cayuga, Onondaga, 
Oneida and Albany in New York were given to devise ways and means 
to reach either by canal or railroad the coal at Blossburg and ensure its 
transportation to southern, central and eastern New York, and thence to 
the commercial ports of the world. Oh, the labor, the care, the anxiety 
and the expenditure of money devoted to the organization of navigation 
and railroad companies to effect this great purpose. A generation and a 
half, counting thirty-three years as a generation, passed away before 
the object was obtained. 

Prominent in the enterprise were Aaron Bloss of Blossburg, Samuel 
W. Morris of Wellsboro, Edwin Dyer and Thomas Putnam of Coving- 
ton, Amos Spencer of Canoe Camp, Asa Mann of Mansfield, William Wil- 
lard, Thomas Berry, Elijah DePue, James Goodrich of Tioga, Curtis 
Parkhurst, John Ryon, James Powers, Simeon Powers of Lawrence- 
ville, Robert Patterson, the pioneer of 1792, and his sons, Benjamin and 
Samuel Patterson, Benjamin Harrower, Joseph W. Ryers, G. Adrian 
Ryers, Theodore Mercereau of Lindley, Laurin Mallory, Nelson Somers, 
Silas Gorton, John and Thomas McBurney of Corning, John Winters and 
John L. Sexton of Big Flats, Hiram Grey, William Maxwell, Jay Cooley 
of Elmira, Vincent Conklin, Hon. Jacob Westlake of Horseheads, Elijah 
Sexton, Jabez Bradley, Erastus Crandall, of Pine Valley, Dr. Watkins of 
Watkins, William Dezang, of Geneva, Horatio Seymour of Utica, Eras- 
tus Corning, Thomas W. Olcott of Albany, their efforts covering a per- 
iod of many years. It would take hours to recite their sensations and 
feelings when sixty-four years ago the Corning and Blossburg railroad 
was completed, extending from Corning to Blossburg, a distance of forty 
miles, at that time one of the longest completed railroads in the world. 

The coal in the hills at Blossburg was used as a lever upon the Legis- 
lature of the State of New York to authorize the Chemung canal and 
feeder in March, 1829, which was completed to Corning in the year 1833, 
and also to charter the New York & Erie railroad in 1832, which was 
completed from the Hudson river at Piermont to Corning in 1850, and to 
Dunkirk on Lake Erie in 1851. In fact the wealth of the coal deposits in 
Blossburg was as well known in Albany, the capital of New York, and in 
London, England, as it was in Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania. 
It had been visited by Her Majesty Queen Victoria's geologist. Sir George 
Lyell, who desired to compare Blossburg with the great coal deposits of 
England, Scotland and Wales. 

I do not for a moment wish to charge any of our public men with be- 
ing derelict in duty in not presenting the Legislature of the State of 
Pennsylvania with the facts in regard to coal deposits in Tioga. Judge 
Samuel W. Morris, of Wellsboro ; James Ford and others, of Lawrence- 
ville, Aaron Bloss, of Blossburg, and many others were continually re- 
minding the Legislature at Harrisburg of our possessions of coal. But 
south of us over the mountains in Pennsylvania there were twenty -four 



COAL MINES AND MINING. 173 

other counties demanding the attention of the law-makers of the State, 
and the pecuHar topographical location of Tioga county with its valleys 
and streams leading out into the State of New York, and New York hav- 
ing no coal, furnished the true reason why New York paid more atten- 
tion to Tioga county than did Pennsylvania. With rare exceptions it has 
been New York State capital which has opened up our mines of coal and 
built railroads to them. It has not altogether been a work of charity or 
benevolence on its part. It has taken good care that the profits of rail- 
roading and mining in Pennsylvania have been spent in the State of New 
York and some of them have gone to enrich the citizens of London, Eng- 
land, who have been investors in our railroad and mining enterprises. 
There is another subject co-related with this that I desire to call your 
attention to before I conclude my chapter. 

I now call your attention to the navigation, railroad and mining com- 
panies in Tioga county and the amount of coal mined and shipped. 

Tioga Navigation Company, incorporated February 20, 1826, by sup- 
plements, ultimately became the Corning and Blossburg Railroad Com- 
pany. 

The Arbon Coal Company was incorporated April 13, 1838, by Dr, 
Lewis Saynisch, Dr. Joseph P. Morris, William Frederic Siebel, Dr. 
Franklin R. Smith, James H. Gulick, James R. Wilson and Bowen Whit- 
ing. James R. Wilson was the first president ; James H. Gulick, sales 
agent ; capital $150,000. 

On May 30, 1838, another company composed of the same persons was 
organized and chartered as the Arbon Land Company, the object being to 
promote the building of a railroad from Blossburg to Lawrenceville. 

The coal mines were operated at Blossburg from their opening in 1840 
to 1845 by the Arbon Coal Company, succeeded by John Ward & Co., 
and they by William M. Mallory & Co., and they were succeeded by John 
Magee until 1859. The total amount of coal mined by all the above nam- 
ed parties was 533,745 tons. 

This brings us up to the incorporation of the Morris Run Coal Co., in 
1852. It and its successors have mined up to January 1, 1904, 15,000,000 
tons. 

The Fall Brook Coal Co. was incorporated by the Legislature of Penn- 
sylvania by John Magee, Duncan S. Magee and James H. Gulick, April 
7, 1859. It has mined 4,950,000 tons. 

The Blossburg Coal Co. was incorporated by the Legislature of Penn- 
sylvania by Constant Cook, John Arnot, Charles Cook, Henry Sherwood, 
Franklin N. Drake, Ferral C. Dininy, Henry H. Cook and Alonzo Webber, 
April 11, 1866. This company has mined up to January 1, 1904, in round 
numbers, 17,460,000 tons. 

The mines at Antrim were opened by the Fall Brook Coal Co. in 1872, 
and have produced 6,500,000 tons. 

Mines were opened by the Gaines Coal & Coke Co., in 1882, and it is 
estimated that it mined about 225,000 tons. 



174 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

RECAPITULATION. 

Tons. 

Arbon Coal Co. and its successors 533,000 

Jacob Jones, present owner 50,000 

Morris Run Coal Co., and its successors 15,000,000 

Fall Brook Coal Co., at Fall Brook 4,950,000 

Fall Brook Coal Co., at Antrim 6,500,000 

The Blossburg Coal Co .17,466,000 

Gurnee and Joseph Mitchell, Robt. Brownlee and Wm. Bache, 
near Antrim ; William Bower, T. J. & Wm. Golden, Fred 
Boothe, Llewellyn & Sons, Charles Shultz, D. T. Jenkins, 
Scott Jenkins, Alfred & William Lewis, Hewett Bros., Alex 
Hutchinson, Evans & Jones, Rudolph Rudniski, William 
Lloyd, John Crooks and their successors, Michael J. Kelley, 
J. H. Putnam, H. Kendrick, Thomas Wilson and his suc- 
cessors, all in the Blossburg region 550,340 

45,049,985 

Making a grand total in round numbers of over 45,000,000 tons. 

To realize the immensity of this total I will state that it would take 
one miner 313 days per year and mining one thousand tons per year, 
45,000 years in order to perform the task. To mine the 45,049,985 tons, 
it has cost the various companies in wages for miners, laborers, carpen- 
ters, clerks, foremen, superintendents and managers, sixty million dol- 
lars. The companies have recouped to a large extent by rent, profit on 
goods sold, etc. While the gross amount received by the companies for 
their coal has made it a very profitable business, paying most excellent 
dividends on capital invested. 

In the year 1860 there was not 500 miles of railroad in North America 
where steam was genei-ated by coal in locomotives. In 1862 Duncan S. 
Magee, of the Fall Brook Coal Co., appointed a committee to induce rail- 
roads to use coal instead of wood as a steam generator. Thirteen years 
from that time, or in 1875, out of the 175,000 miles of railroads in the 
United States 160,000 miles used coal as a steam generator, hence the 
rapid demand for coal during those years. Hon. Horatio Seymour, of 
Utica, N. Y., was chairman of Magee 's committee and the author of 
this article was the active newspaper correspondent of the committee and 
two of Blossburg's locomotive engineers, William and James Green, were 
what may be termed the original demonstrators of the work of changing 
the wood burning locomotive engines into coal burning engines. Without 
this great change in the fuel for engines the coal trade in this Tioga 
county region and many others throughout the United States would have 
been a dead letter. 

I have shown that over 45,000,000 tons of coal have been mined and 
shipped from Tioga county principally by New York and other capitalists 
not residents of Pennsylvania and that the profits of the coal trade have 
been spent outside of this State. There remains in Tioga county the 
shales and fire clays and glass sand rock that are worth many times as 
much as all the coal that has been mined or will be mined in the county. 



COAL MINES AND MINING. 175 

Fire clays, shales and glass sand rock are now being shipped outside of 
the county to be manufactured. There are in the Blossburg region inex- 
haustible quantities of the very best fire clays in North America, also 
clays that can be pressed into indestructible building brick, sewer pipe 
and torra cotta. 

We have five banks and one great banking and trust company who 
are seeking investment for their surplus capital. Do not let the man who 
one hundred years hence writes history as I write to-day recite the mil- 
lions of tons of fire clays, shales and glass sand rock that have been min- 
ed in Tioga county and shipped over into New York to be manufactured 
into furnace brick, building brick, sewer pipe and terra cotta, or single 
and double thick glass. But rather let him point with pride to the dwell- 
ings, barns, churches, school houses and manufactories, not only in this 
county, but all over this country, that have been made from Tioga county 
clay and shales or Tioga county glass sand rock in Tioga county. Stimu- 
late home industries and he who writes for history one hundred years 
from now will not be embarassed as I am to-day when I am compelled to 
state that 45,000,000 tons of coal have been shipped from Tioga, the 
profits of which have been spent beyond the limits of the State. Here 
we are blessed as no other county in the State is blessed with a commo- 
dity which if utilized will bring millions of dollars into the grand old 
county of Tioga. The capital is here. All it needs is enterprise, energy 
and good business methods to make Tioga county more famous for its 
brick and glass than it has been for its coal. The material for the brick 
and 'glass industries cannot be exhausted in the next hundred years. 
Plenty of it will remain when the second centennial of the organization of 
Tioga county is celebrated, although many, very many manufactories are 
run day and night during that period. 

I close with high hopes for the future of old Tioga. 



CLOSING WORK OF THE COMMISSION. 



July 14, 1904, the Centennial Commission appointed President Charles 
Tubbs, Secretary Arthur M. Roy, George W. Merrick, Francis M. Shef- 
fer and W. R. Longstreet as a Committee on Publication to arrange for 
printing a book containing the historical matter pertaining to the centen- 
nial celebration. 

President Tubbs reported a vacancy on the Commission by the death 
of Dr. A. M. Loop, of Nelson, one of the Vice-Presidents and a mem- 
ber of the Executive Committee. Dr. Loop had anticipated the Cen- 
tennial with much pleasure. He was present at the preliminary meeting 
and assisted in the work of organization, expressing the hope that he 
might live to witness the celebration. He died May 28, 1904, in the 
eighty-eighth year of his age. A sketch of his life will be found in the 
monograph, "Our Early Physicians," in this volume. 

Major George W. Merrick was elected to succeed Dr. Loop as a mem- 
ber of the Centennial Commission and the Executive Committee. 

The Secretary was instructed to accept the offer of the Potter County 
Centennial Committee to buy the cases and glass used for the antiquar- 
ian exhibit. 

At a meeting in the Bar Association rooms in the court-house in Wells- 
boro, November 11th, all the members of the Pubhcation Committee were 
present— Hon. Charles Tubbs, Major George W. Merrick, W. R. Long- 
street, Francis M. Sheffer and Arthur M. Roy. There was considerable 
discussion about printing in book form a report of the celebration and the 
historical monographs assigned to writers. The style of such a book was 
considered and also the arrangement of the matter. 

On motion of George W. Merrick, seconded by W. R. Longstreet, the 
following resolution was passed unanimously : 

' ' Resolved, That a memorial volume be published in accordance with 
the resolution of the Centennial Commission, on July 14, 1904, out of the 
funds remaining in the hands of the Commission." 

March 7, 1905, the Executive Committee and Publication Committee 
considered the merits of the historical monographs presented for the 
book, the cost of publication, the quality of paper to be used and the 
style of binding. Some of the authors were reported to be still neglect- 
ful of their duty in preparing their papers. 

Treasurer L. L. Bailey's report of receipts and expenditures for the 
celebration of the centennial was read, but no action was taken on it at 
that meeting. That report showed cash receipts of $2,547.92; expendi- 



CLOSING WORK OF THE COMMISSION. 177 

tures, per orders presented as vouchers, $2,009.66, leaving a balance in 
the treasury of $538.26. 

March 16, 1905, the Executive Committee met in the court-house. 
Secretary Roy presented his financial report of the centennial celebra- 
tion, also the report of Treasurer Bailey and Mr. Anton Hardt for the 
antiquarian exhibit. The reports were ordered to be filed. 

Messrs. George W. Williams and Francis M. Sheffer were appointed 
as Auditors to examine and approve the accounts of the Secretary and 
Treasurer. 

On motion Arthur M. Roy was appointed as editor of the historical 
volume and $25 was appropriated to pay him for the work of arranging 
the material for the book. 

June 16, 1905, Secretary Roy submitted his work in editing the matter 
so far in hand for the historical volume and there was some discussion 
relative to publication. 

On motion the offer of Mr. Roy to print and bind the book according 
to specifications was unanimously accepted. 

The proposition of the Tioga County Historical Society to contribute 
$50 toward the cost of publication and to have 150 copies of the book 
adapted to its use by a change in the title page was accepted. 



FINANCIAL REPORTS. 



RECEIPTS BY L. L. BAILEY, TREASURER. 

From subscriptions $ 2,005.25 

From sale of Antiquarian Exhibit cases 56.80 

From sale of privileges for celebration 157.00 

Balance from medal account 4.36 

Balance from Antiquarian Exhibit 1.06 

From all other sources 323.45 

Total $2,547.92 

EXPENDITURES. 

Advanced to Anton Hardt for Antiquarian Exhibit $ 20.00 

Postage, clerk hire and printing bills 125.19 

Posting bills , 1.95 

Guarantee special trains 225.00 

Advance charges. Central R. R., for Jabour Carnival Co 254.20 

Advance charges. Pa. R. R., for Jabour Carnival Co 219.25 

(Of the above two items, $73.45 was refunded, $400 being the 

contract price for the Carnival Co.) 

Street decorations 17.00 

Decorating Antiquarian Hall 5.00 

Freight on fireworks 7.83 

Assistant at fireworks display 2.00 

Rev. John O'Toole, for meals furnished guests, 86 meals 21.50 

Wellsboro Military Band, services for three days 212.50 

C. R. English, watchman 3.94 

Lafayette English, watchman 3.94 

Firing salutes, three days, 63 guns, labor 9.00 

Lee EngUsh, watchman 5.25 

Postage 16.44 

Rent of Auditorium 50.00 

Coles House, hotel bills 24.00 

Drum Corps 12.00 

Printing and advertising 40.75 

Telephone bills 9.60 

Baptist church, meals served firemen 8.25 

Express and telephone bills 4.30 

Herman Yahn, cartage 1.50 

T. R. Davis, returning log cabin to Tioga 4.00 

Assistant at fireworks 6.00 

J. A. Culver, lumber and work on platforms, etc 80.10 

Wellsboro Electric Co., lights and wiring 81.03 

Printing and advertising 47.50 

Expenses to Williamsport of committeeman 16.93 

George Watkins, livery 6.00 

Knoxville Courier, printing 2.00 

Baker Brothers, fireworks 255.52 



FINANCIAL REPORTS. 179 

Gunpowder 35.62 

S. E. Smith, livery 12.00 

Cost of Antrim mining display in parade 10.00 

W. J. Bowen, traction engine for parade 11.50 

Max Bernkopf & Bro., bunting, etc 10.50 

Wellsboro Carriage Co., painting signs 1.50 

Roberts & Gardner, supplies for fireworks display 1.87 

Clerical work 12.00 

W. S. Mackey, cleaning public square after celebration 5.00 

Printing bills 7.00 

Boro of Wellsboro 46.00 

St. Paul's church, rent of building for Antiquarian Exhibit 50.00 

Repairs on old church after exhibit 7.20 

Total $2,009.66 

Balance in Treasury 538.26 

Total $ 2,547.92 

THE CENTENNIAL MEDAL ACCOUNT. 

Arthur M. Roy, Secretary and Committee on Medals, in account with 

the Centennial Commission : dr. 

To cash received from the sale of medals $ 161.95 

^ CR. 

By cash paid for Centennial medals $ 150.00 

Express, etc 4.09 

Wages for agents on the streets selling medals 3.50 

Balance cash paid Treasurer 4.36 

Total $ 161.95 

Treasurer's account hereto attached and forming a part of this report, 
with all vouchers. 

ANTIQUARIAN EXHIBIT. 

Anton Hardt, Superintendent. 

RECEIPTS. DR. 

To cash advanced by Commission $ 20.00 

Proceeds from sale of tickets 306.30 

Old floor matting sold 6.32 

Total $ 332.62 

EXPENDITURES. CR. 

For glass for show-cases $ 37.80 

Cost of making show-cases 57.77 

Floor matting 12.30 

Electric lights 7.46 

Freight and cartage on exhibits 38.36 

Labor of ticket sellers and watchers 177.87 

Cash balance paid Treasurer 1.06 

Total $ 332.62 



180 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

AUDITORS' REPORT. 

We, the undersigned Auditors appointed by the Tioga County Centen- 
nial Commission, have examined the accounts and vouchers of Arthur M. 
Roy, Secretary, and L. L. Bailey, Treasurer of said Commission, and of 
Anton Hardt, Superintendent of the Antiquarian Exhibit, and we find 
them correct to the best of our knowledge and belief, the vouchers hav- 
ing been duly checked and arranged for permanent filing. 

F. M. Shepfer, 
Geo. W. Williams, 
Auditors. 



SUBSCRIPTIONS RECEIVED 



FOR THE CELEBRATION. 



W. R. Coles $200.00 

J. W. Sullivan 200.00 

L. Harrison 100.00 



Jerome B. Niles . . 
Merrick & Young. 
Mary B. Robinson 
Anton Hardt 



Hugh Young 

Watrous, Marsh & Channell 

Arthur M. Roy 

Charles L. Babcock 

F. B. Smith, Blossburg... 
Charles Tubbs, Osceola . . . 

Frank S. Dunkle 

Horace B. Packer 

D. W. Baldwin, Westfield. 
W. D. VanHorn 



W. W. Miller 

William O'Connor 

Sherwood & Owlett 

David Cameron 

A. B. Hitchcock, Knoxville 

F. M. Sheffer 

Max Bernkopf & Bro 

L. L. Bailey 

W. B. Phelps 

W. T. Wilkinson 

W. S. Nearing, Morris Run 

Bailey & Blair 

Alfred J. Niles 

E. G. Schieffelin 

A. B. Dunsmore 

Graves & Mathers 

N. R. White 

John N. Bache 

J. H. Metcalf and others. . 

Blatchley & Campbell 

Hyer & Howd 

J. A. Wise 

F. A. Brooks 

D. C. Smith 

J. B. Potter 

Roberts & Gardner 

Finkelstein Bros 



75.00 
50.00 
50.00 
50.00 
50.00 
50.00 
50.00 
50.00 
50.00 
50.00 
40.00 
30.00 
25.00 
25.00 
25.00 
25.00 
25.00 
25.00 
25.00 
25.00 
25.00 
25.00 
25.00 
25.00 
25.00 
25.00 
25.00 
25.00 
25.00 
25.00 
25.00 
25.00 
25.25 
15.00 
15.00 
15.00 
15.00 
10.00 
10.00 
10.00 
10.00 



A. J. Shattuck 

Geo. W. WiUiams . . . . 
Rosenbaum & Phillips 

Smith & Stone 

Hammond Bros 

A. P. & E. S. Dartt . . 

Geo. M. Spalding 

D. L. Deane 



Henry C. Cox 

Edward B. Dorsett . . . 

Fred W. Siemens 

G. P. RiberoUe 

F. H. Rockwell 

R. L. VanHorn & Son 

Ralph Roff 

Geo. O. Derby 

M. B. Stebbins 

L. A. Gardner 



T. M. Archer 

T. M. Reese 

S. O. Putman 

C. O. Dunlap 

Peter Fischler 

Locke & Kelts 

Jas. A. Boyce 

Cohen Bros 

Evans Bros. & Myers. . . 

August Petit 

R. Pagan 

R. A. Lorenz & Co 

E. M. Johnson & Co 

Arthur W. Spencer 

Gifford & Raish 

Navle & Westbrook 

N. W. Mastin 

F. H. Rose 

A. B. Eastman 

Fred M. Bodine 

John P. Longwell 

C. W. Webb 

M. L. Bacon 

F. A. Johnson & Son . . . 
L. Nearing, Morris Run 

M. Tucker 

C. S. Green 



10.00 

10.00 

10.00 

10.00 

10.00 

10.00 

10.00 

10.00 

10.00 

10.00 

10.00 

10.00 

10.00 

10.00 

10.00 

10.00 

10.00 

10.00 

10.00 

10.00 

10.00 

5.00 

5.00 

5.00 

5.00 

5.00 

5.00 

5.00 

5.00 

5.00 

5.00 

5.00 

5.00 

5.00 

5.00 

5.00 

5.00 

5.00 

5.00 

5.00 

5.00 

5.00 

5.00 

5.00 

10.00 



Note.— Mr. Anton Hardt very generously gave his services to the Commission as Super- 
intendent of the Antiquarian Exhibit ; therefore the Commission did not allow him to pay 
his subscription. 



INDEX. 



Page. 

Anniversary, suggestions for the celebration .... 7 

" preparations for 7 

" in the Public Schools 19 

" in the Churches 25 

Address by President Charles Tubbs 16 

Antiquarian Exhibit suggested 11 

" " committee 12 

" " superintendent 12 

" " contributors to 65 

" " report of 64 

Agriculture 149 

Area of Tioga County 5 

Arrangement of Program 17 

Auditors' Report 180 

Bar, the 123 

Bench, the 114 

Burnside, Thomas 115 

Cameron, David 119 

Conyngham, John Nesbit 115 

Gibson, John Bannister 114 

Herrick, Edward 115 

Mitchell, John I. 118 

Niles, Jerome B. 120 

Olmsted, Arthur 121 

Williston, Horace 115 

White, Robert Gray 116 

Williams, Henry W 116 

Wilson, Stephen Fowler 117 

Call for preliminary meeting, signers of 7 

Cassoday, Hon. John B., address by 62 

Coal Mines and Mining 171 

Cobb, M. H., Centennial Ode by 36 

Celebration, the place fixed 9 

" the date fixed 10 

Committee, Executive, members of 8 

Committees appointed for celebration 10 

Centennial Celebration 26 

" " President's Address .... 26 



INDEX. 



183 



Page. 

Celebration of Anniversary in the Schools .... 19 
Commemorative Exercises— 

The proceedings on Wednesday ..... 26 

The proceedings on Thursday 36 

The proceedings on Friday 60 

County Superintendent's Address to the Schools ... 19 

Director-General appointed 15 

Delmar, origin of the name 27 

Early History, outline of 5 

Edwards, Mrs. M. N., poem by 61 

Elliott, Hon. Simon B., address 35 

Educational Development 86 

Finances for celebration, raising by subscription ... 12 

First public meeting for celebration 8 

Financial reports 178 

Fireworks, committee, etc 14 

Indian Predecessors G8 

Invitation Committee appointed 13 

Lumbering 145 

Military Parade, preparation for 15 

Map of Connecticut Claim 76 

Map of Tioga Township, Lycoming County, inset between pages 

144 and 145. 
Map of the Connecticut-Susquehanna Co., covering Tioga Coun- 
ty, inset between pages 76 and 77. 

Military Record 104 

Revolutionary Soldiers 105 

War of 1812 106 

The Civil War 106 

Companies from Tioga County 107 

Spanish- American War 113 

Monographs, topics and writers assigned 10 

Medals ordered 11 

Old Home committee appointed 14 

" Old Home " Meeting 47 

Chairman's address 48 

Address of welcome 48 

Address by Hon. Hosea H. Rockwell .... 50 

Address by Hon. Simon B. Elliott 52 

Address by Rev. John O 'Toole 54 

Address by Hon. Frederick W. Fleitz .... 55 

Remarks by Mrs. Kittie Rose Pepper .... 57 

Remarks by Rev. A. C. Shaw. D. D 58 

Remarks by Hon. William A. Stone .... 59 

Parade, civic and industrial 60 



184 TIOGA COUNTY CENTENNIAL. 

Page. 

Pioneer of Tioga County 75 

Publicity, committee on - 14 

President Tubbs's address 16 

Public Schools, address to by President 20 

Public Schools, address by Major G. W. Merrick ... 21 

Public Schools, program for 19 

Public Schools, anniversary exercises 10 

Program, committee appointed for 13 

Physicians, Early 154 

Press of Tioga County 94 

Pioneer, first newspaper 95 

Religion in the Early Days 90 

Religious Development and present statistics .... 93 

Reception Committee 17 

Rockwell, Hon. Hosea H., historical address .... 29 

Settlement by the pioneer 80 

Speakers secured 15 

Schools, County Superintendents of 88 

Schools, early 89 

Strawbridge, James, the pioneer 77 

Subscriptions for celebration 181 

Transportation, committee appointed 13 

Tioga County, origin of the name 6 

Tubbs, Hon. Charles, historical address 26 

Warrant located by James Strawbridge ....'. 79 

Watrous. Mrs. Fanny Shove, poem 34 

Wellsboro, origin of the name 29 

Wellsborough's Military Band, members of ... . 47 



r, 



I>j^ 19 1909 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



014 311 707 8 







